Montreal Canadiens: What do the stats say of Nick Suzuki and Cale Fleury?
By Omar L
Nick Suzuki and Cale Fleury have seemed to the depths of the Montreal Canadiens priority list, and their numbers can provide insight on how that can change.
The Montreal Canadiens are entering their second week of full NHL duties, and two aspects of the team are truly different. Ahead of the season opener, the fan base was ecstatic that both Nick Suzuki and Cale Fleury won a spot on the roster out of camp. Suzuki earned a seat on the right of Max Domi while Fleury was in charge of manning the bottom defence pair with Brett Kulak by his side.
Things aren’t as positive as they were back then. Fleury has missed the last three games as a healthy scratch while Suzuki has found himself on the fourth line once or twice. The lines at practice on Monday were even more telling of the 2017 first-round pick’s situation. Suzuki was alternating at centre with Jesperi Kotkaniemi while Nick Cousins was fully participating as the fourth line’s right-winger.
Suzuki may find himself healthy scratched as well if Cousins is good to go against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Should they?
Julien hasn’t been shy to scratch a developing player as Victor Mete watched some games from the press box in his rookie year while Kotkaniemi was taken out one night on the West Coast.
Obviously, there are things both Suzuki and Fleury are doing that aren’t sitting well with the coaching staff. The latter’s stand out a bit more playing on defence, but Suzuki has had his blunders as well. Off the top of my mind, the Trevor Moore strip against the Toronto Maple Leafs wasn’t one of his finest moments.
The 20-year-old does have a point on the season getting a helper on Joel Armia‘s offensive outbursts in Buffalo. But what else are the numbers saying about Suzuki and Fleury? And of course, I don’t mean the raw numbers here, what are the advanced stats saying of how either is fairing in their NHL careers so far?