HabsWorld.net --
The Habs will be without their top forward for the next little while. The team announced on Thursday that centre Nick Suzuki will miss the next two to four weeks with an upper-body injury.
The injury occurred during Tuesday’s overtime loss to San Jose. Suzuki blocked a shot with his hand and was in some clear discomfort, although he stayed in the game. While not specified by the team, that’s likely the issue that is now taking him out of the lineup.
This will be the first time that the captain misses time due to injury, snapping his ironman streak at 546 games. It was the second-longest active streak in the NHL behind Colorado’s Brent Burns and the 20th-longest in league history.
On top of losing that streak, the Canadiens will lose a crucial part of their attack for the next little while. Suzuki is Montreal’s leading scorer out of the gate, picking up five goals and seven assists in nine games. That had him on pace to pass last year’s 101 points but that is now much less likely to happen.
On the shortest possible end of that timeline, Suzuki might only miss six games. However, as we’ve seen early on this year, most Habs haven’t been returning to the lineup early in their recovery timelines. At a four-week absence, he’d miss the next 14 contests.
It will be interesting to see how the Habs try to handle his absence, as they don’t have a logical fit for the top line. Alex Newhook has handled the 2C duties thus far but might not be the best fit for the role, considering he hasn’t been a full-time middleman all that long. Oliver Kapanen recently returned but had been on the fourth line; is he ready to make the jump to the top unit? Kirby Dach could also find himself in the mix. Suffice it to say, the lines are going to be jumbled before long.
To take Suzuki’s spot on the roster, Owen Beck has been recalled from Laval, making his stint in Laval a one-and-done situation. He has been deployed sparingly on the fourth line in limited action so he’s probably not an option for top-six minutes, a role he has with the Rocket. He scored a goal in Wednesday’s 5-1 victory over Syracuse.
