Nick Suzuki has now become a crucial member of Team Canada in their quest to win the gold medal at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. His role coming into the tournament was clear: he would be someone who could play in all sorts of positions and situations, while being a player they could rely on for the penalty kill.
After scoring in his Olympic debut, Suzuki's production was unusually quiet, which likely has a lot to do with him playing on the wing. However, with Nathan MacKinnon not looking 100% and Sidney Crosby going down with a knee injury in Canada’s quarterfinal matchup with Czechia, this is exactly why Doug Armstrong and Jon Cooper wanted Suzuki on the roster.
With around 15 minutes to go in the second period, Crosby took a hit from Czechia defenceman Radko Gudas, falling awkwardly with all of the opposition's weight on him. Crosby looked shaken up on the play, and 13 seconds later, he got hit again along the boards by Gudas and Martin Necas, leaving the game for good. As a result, Cooper moved Suzuki back to centre to where Crosby was playing, on a line with Mitch Marner and Mark Stone.
Suzuki’s move back to centre paid instant dividends for Canada. With Canada down one with under 4 minutes to go, Suzuki chips the puck into Czechia’s zone, wins the puck battle along the boards against Filip Hronek, passes the puck to Seth Jarvis, and then sets up in front of the net to tip in Devon Toews’ point shot that was going well wide of the net, tying it up at three.
Marner secured the win for Canada, scoring the overtime winner with a great individual effort, slicing through the zone before roofing a backhand over Lukas Dostal’s shoulder. Canada moves on to face Finland in the semifinal, in large part, because of Suzuki’s heroics in the third period.
That sentiment was expressed after the game by Cooper, “Our country needed a goal. Nick Suzuki answered.” Cooper was not the only one who had good things to say about Suzuki. “That was an elite play winning that puck,” long-time Canadiens rival Brad Marchand said. “It's not just the tip. It's the entire play.”
With Crosby's status for the game in question, if he can not play, Suzuki becomes all the more important. Not only will he have to step onto a line to try to replace the loss left by Crosby, but he will also have to fill in on a line that has been one of Canada’s best all tournament.
That is exactly why Canada took someone like Suzuki, because not only can he be one of your best defensive forwards, but if someone goes down with injury, like what happened against Czechia, you can move him up your lineup, and your team will not miss a beat. If Crosby is out next game or even worse, out for the rest of the tournament, Suzuki now becomes a crucial figure in Canada’s quest to win gold.
He will still be one of Canada’s top shutdown guys, but now there will be a lot more pressure for him to produce offensively, especially if he is centring Canada’s second line. Suzuki is going to get an opportunity to show that not only is he a great player, but that he can step up in the big moments when Canada needs him the most and produce.