Stu Cowan: Nick Suzuki would provide stability as Canadiens captain

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General manager Kent Hughes says the Canadiens will have a new captain next season.

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The main candidates are Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher and Joel Edmundson.

Don’t expect whoever gets the “C” to finish their career in Montreal. The “C” on a Canadiens jersey often stands for “C You Later.”

The last Canadiens captain to retire with the team was Bob Gainey after the 1988-89 season.

Since then, 10 players have worn the “C” and they have all been traded or left Montreal as free agents: Chris Chelios, Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller, Mike Keane, Pierre Turgeon, Vincent Damphousse, Saku Koivu, Brian Gionta , Max Pacioretty and Shea Weber.

Weber almost certainly played his last NHL game with the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals last year, but the last four seasons of his contract with a salary cap of US$7.5 million have been traded. in Las Vegas last month with the Golden Knights. long-term casualty reserve. Even if he never plays another game again, as planned, Weber will officially retire as a Golden Knight.

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Gainey spent eight seasons as captain. Since retiring, the only Canadiens captain to last more than four seasons was Saku Koivu, who wore the “C” for nine seasons. Koivu signed as a free agent with Anaheim on July 8, 2009, and played five seasons with the Ducks before retiring.

Before Gainey, there was a long list of players who retired as captains of the Canadiens, including Yvan Cournoyer, Henri Richard, Jean Béliveau and Maurice Richard.

After Gainey retired, the Canadiens had six captains over the next 10 seasons – Chelios, Carbonneau, Muller, Keane, Turgeon and Damphousse – before Koivu took over.

Chelios was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks – along with a second-round pick in the 1991 NHL Draft – in exchange for Denis Savard on June 29, 1990. Chelios was on the Canadiens’ Stanley Cup team in 1986 and played won the Norris Trophy in 1988. -89. He would play 19 more seasons in the NHL, winning two more Norris Trophies with the Blackhawks and two Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings.

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Carbonneau was traded to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Jim Montgomery on August 19, 1994. Former team president Ronald Corey panicked after Carbonneau pointed the finger at a Journal de Montreal photographer who was hiding in the trees while playing golf three. days after the Canadiens were knocked out of the playoffs. The photo appeared on the front page of the newspaper the next day, and Carbonneau’s days with the Canadiens were soon to come to an end. Carbonneau, the last Canadiens captain to lift the Stanley Cup in 1993, would play six more seasons in the NHL and win another Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999.

Muller, who played a key role in the 1993 championship, was traded to the New York Islanders on April 5, 1995, along with Craig Darby and Mathieu Schneider, in exchange for Vladimir Malakhov and Turgeon. Muller will play nine more seasons in the NHL.

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Keane was basically a throw-in in Patrick Roy’s trade to the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 6, 1995, which brought him to tears. Keane, a member of the 1993 Cup team, would play eight more seasons in the NHL and win two more Cups with the Avalanche in 1996 and the Stars in 1999.

Turgeon only wore the “C” for 53 games before being traded to the St. Louis Blues on October 29, 1996, along with Craig Conroy and Rory Fitzpatrick, in exchange for Murray Barron, Shayne Corson and a fifth pick round in the 1997 NHL Draft.

Damphousse, eligible to become a free agent, was traded to the San Jose Sharks on March 23, 1999, in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 1999 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in 2000. He will play five seasons with the Sharks, scoring at least 20 goals in three of them, before retiring.

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The Canadiens named Koivu the 27th captain in franchise history prior to the start of the 1999-2000 season. Koivu was just 24 with only four seasons of NHL experience, but he would wear the “C” with honor on and off the ice for nine seasons.

My pick for the new Habs captain would be Gallagher. He bled blue-white-red for 10 years and I believe he deserves it – but I don’t think he’s going to get it. Gallagher, 30, has five more seasons left on his contract with an annual salary cap of $6.5 million and you have to think Hughes would love to trade him if he can. At this point in his career, Gallagher would probably prefer to play on a team closer to a chance at winning the Stanley Cup.

Suzuki turns 23 on Aug. 10 and has three seasons of NHL experience — one year less and one season less than Koivu when he was named captain. There are a lot of similarities between Suzuki and Koivu in their personalities and the way they play.

Suzuki is entering the first season of an eight-year contract worth US$63 million, so he should be in Montreal for a while and provide some stability with the ‘C’ – just as Koivu has do.

Suzuki would be a good choice. But don’t bet on his retirement as captain of the Canadiens.

scowan@postmedia.com

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