Montreal Canadiens: Recent Signings Set The Bar Extremely High For Nick Suzuki’s Next Contract

Montreal Canadiens centre Nick Suzuki made some noise as a rookie in 2019-20, but really broke out this season.

It was his second year in the NHL and he proved that he is going to be a two-way force for years to come. The 22 year old was given a major role form day one of training camp and he ran with it.

He finished the year playing in the Stanley Cup Final on the team’s first line with Tyler Toffoli and Cole Caufield. Suzuki was a huge part of that lengthy playoff run, scoring seven goals and 16 points in 22 games. He led the team in both offensive categories while being a terrific defensive presence on the ice as well.

The question now is not so much what does he do for an encore, but how much will he paid in the future? The Canadiens are eligible to sign Suzuki to an extension right now, even though he is signed through the 2021-22 season at a cap hit less than $900,000. Once that entry-level deal expires, Suzuki is going to be making far more per season, and a couple of recent signings have set the bar for him.

On the same day earlier this week, both Sean Couturier and Andrei Svechnikov signed contracts. Not only did they sign on the same day but they signed the exact same contract. Both forwards will make $7.75 million per season for the next eight years.

Svechnikov and Couturier are very different players, but they both obviously have the same value and can be compared to Suzuki to find out what the Canadiens top centre would cost on a long term deal.

Svechnikov is just 21 years old and is coming off a season where he scored 15 goals and 42 points in 55 games. He added eight points in 11 postseason games for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Just looking at points, Suzuki was one point shy of Svechnikov and scored the same number of goals while playing just one more regular season game. Suzuki played twice as many playoff games as Svechnikov and scored exactly twice as many points. So, both players had a points per game of 0.727 in the postseason.

Svechnikov is a different type of player, as he is a powerful winger compared to Suzuki who plays centre. Typically, the centre gets a little more money, but Svechnikov, who is one year younger, actually has a bit more of a track record of success.

The Russian winger who was taken second overall by the Hurricanes in 2018, has played three NHL seasons and scored 61 points in 68 games in his second campaign with the Canes. He had consecutive 20 goal seasons before being on pace to reach that plateau once again if the 2020-21 season were a full 82 game schedule.

So, they play different positions but are similar age and had almost identical production this season. Svechnikov promises to be more of a goal scoring threat, but Suzuki’s playmaking and defensive game will likely come out on top.

Speaking of defensive game, you don’t get much better than Sean Couturier. You could argue he is the best defensive forward in the sport and he has proven to be a point per game player, or very close to it.

The big difference between Couturier and the other two players mentioned here is age. While all three were early first round picks, Svechnikov was taken in 2018, Suzuki was drafted in 2017 and Couturier was picked in 2011, making him 28 years old already.

Couturier is basically what we as Habs fans want Suzuki to turn into and he is well on his way. The Philadelphia Flyers centre had 41 points in 45 games last season, and set career highs with 33 goals and 76 points in 2018-19. Adding that to his exceptional defensive game makes him a very valuable two-way forward.

That is exactly what Suzuki is blossoming into. His next contract is going to need to representative of that. Suzuki might get a touch less lower than these two players because Couturier has proven for years to be an elite two-way player and Svechnikov has more of a goal scorer’s touch.

However, these two recent signings show that Suzuki is going to be worth $7 million on his next contract if the Canadiens want to go to a max term of eight years.