Montreal Canadiens: Breaking down the NHL Player Gaming Challenge

lyThe NHL is working with ESL Gaming to create the NHL Player Gaming Challenge, and the Montreal Canadiens have Victor Mete and Nick Suzuki representing them.

NHL 20 has been pretty busy since the National Hockey League went on pause. At first, it started out by simulating regular-season games that were meant to be played, giving the Montreal Canadiens some sense of action. Then players began taking it upon themselves to do more with the platform as stars began hosting streams raising money for various charities and support programs in North America. And now things are being taken up a notch.

The new event was announced Thursday by the NHL, who has partnered up with ESL Gaming and Honda. The NHL Player Gaming Challenge will begin April 30th and last four weeks, where each team in the league will have one or two players representing each team. It won’t only be simple games as each week will have specific matchups and storylines to add more investment to the games.

The representatives for the Montreal Canadiens won’t come off as too much as a shock as Victor Mete and Nick Suzuki will take the reigns. Mete, and Suzuki are two of the youngest players on the team, so it would make sense that they would be inclined to participate in the Challenge. And when looking at the rest of the players involved, it’s a young man’s event taking place.

Players such as Brady Tkachuk, Charlie McAvoy and Zach Wirenski are some of the younger stars taking part, but there are also veterans playing in Matt Martin (New York Islanders), Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals) and James van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia Flyers).

The games will not only be streamed on Twitch, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and the NHL website, but some will also be aired on NBC Sports with Alex Faust (Los Angeles Kings play-by-play announcer) hosting them.

So, where do Mete and Suzuki stand in all of this?

The Montreal Canadiens have an 85 rating in offence, 87 in defence and 88 in goaltending. Offensively, they’re on par with the Calgary Flames and New York Rangers while having one of the highest-goaltending ranks in the game. Only the Boston Bruins, Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks have a higher score.

The Habs are also in the pack defensively, so there won’t be too many egregious issues there. The only issue is scoring.

Individually, Montreal’s highest-rated player is Carey Price with a 91 overall. Next is Shea Weber at 88 leading all defencemen (as expected) while Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin share the lead amongst forwards at 85. Suzuki’s season with the Habs was also recognized this year by EA has he’s in the green territory with an 80 rating.

The forward lines and defence pairings in the game are fairly similar to what the Montreal Canadiens run in real life with some alterations.

Tomas Tatar – Philip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Jonathan Drouin – Max Domi – Joel Armia

Paul Byron – Nick Suzuki – Jordan Weal

Artturi Lehkonen – Jake Evans – Dale Weise

The game has the right idea in keeping that top line intact while Drouin is nice and healthy here instead of being out with an ankle injury.

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Victor Mete – Cale Fleury

Similarly to Drouin, Mete is healthy in gameland while rookie defenceman Fleury is in instead of Christian Folin.

The Montreal Canadiens may not be the best overall team in NHL 20, but to succeed in the game is a matter of knowing what works and what doesn’t work. One-timers have been the easiest way to generate offence in this year’s reiteration, so Mete and Suzuki should make use of those options they have if granted zone time.

There’s legitimate competition in this Challenge. Not only because of the difference in team ability, but the players behind the controlling making the actions.

It’ll be an interesting event for Suzuki and Mete, though they do seem confident in their gameplay. And at the end of the day, the NHL Player Gaming Challenge is working towards a good cause as $100,000 will be donated to CDC Foundation’s COVID-19 relief.