Habs Diary: Nick Suzuki the next Habs captain?

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The Canadiens have been a captainless team all season and have seemed to lack leadership.

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For some reason, former general manager Marc Bergevin decided against appointing a captain at the start of the season — not even as an interim — even though he said Shea Weber wouldn’t be playing this season and the career of the veteran defender was probably over. Brendan Gallagher seemed like an obvious choice to wear the “C” in Weber’s absence, but Bergevin decided to skip the captaincy.

While Weber stayed at home in Kelowna, BC – still technically the captain – the Canadiens became the worst team in the NHL.

Mark Messier is the only player in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup as captain of two teams, in 1990 with the Edmonton Oilers and in 1994 when the New York Rangers won their first championship in 54 years. The NHL’s Mark Messier Leadership Award has been given since the 2006-07 season to a player “who exemplifies great leadership qualities for his team, on and off the ice during the regular season”.

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“I was blessed as captain to have incredible leaders around me, in Edmonton and New York,” Messier said earlier this season on the New York Post’s Up in the Blue Seats podcast when was asked if Rangers didn’t have a captain this season. “Not just the assistant captains, but the players who didn’t have a letter on their shirt who were incredible leaders in their own right, and did an incredible job behind the scenes and got credit for it, keeping the team galvanized, motivated, online, singing the same message from top to bottom throughout the leadership of the team, from the coaching staff to the doctors to the management and the coaching staff, he must act with a unified message.

“But the big tie between it all is the one team leader everyone can turn to in tough times, or in adversity or when things are going well.”

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After the Canadiens traded Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames on Monday, new head coach Martin St. Louis said Toffolli was like a captain without wearing the “C.” Gallagher and Paul Byron are also veteran leaders who are alternate captains, but there hasn’t been a single true anointed leader in the locker room.

It certainly looks like a mistake.

New general manager Kent Hughes has said that will change before the start of next season and one of the candidates to be the next captain is Nick Suzuki, who has also worn an ‘A’ on his jersey this season.

Suzuki is just 22 years old but will play a big role in the Canadiens’ future with a new eight-year, US$63 million contract that kicks off next season with an annual salary cap of $7.875 million. The Canadiens will be a different team after the March 21 NHL trade deadline and whatever off-season moves Hughes decides to make, so it will be interesting to see who the next captain will be.

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Suzuki certainly has some of the key qualities needed to be a captain, but he may still be too young for that added pressure at this stage in his career.

“I think there are different forms of leadership,” St. Louis said Thursday morning. “There are vocal leaders, there are leaders by example. Usually the young guys are most of the leaders for example. I think Suzy is probably in that department. I think he tries to do everything right on the ice. I think he’s trying to absorb the information, the coaching, and trying to go apply it. I think as I get older I’m sure there will be more responsibility and he’ll probably be a bit more of a vocal leader, having more pulse from everyone in the room, not just him.

“I think as a young player it’s really hard to ask,” added St. Louis, who captained the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2013-14 season. “I think you grow in that role and from my own experience I think as players you grow in that role. I think when you’re young you probably lead by example. I know that where we are right now, he might have to step up that part a little bit or maybe be a little more vocal, but that’s not something you can impose on anyone.

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“Leadership is something acquired,” St. Louis continued. “I believe people are born with leadership qualities and I think they have examples of leaders in their lives, whether it’s a coach or a parent, an uncle. And I think when they get to a place or a stage in their life where they’re placed in a position of leadership, they’ve learned to lead by example. But not everyone has these leadership qualities, so you have to be careful. I’m not saying Nick doesn’t have that… I don’t know him well enough. But you can’t force people to just lead and I think until you identify that, have a conversation with them, they’re probably going to lead by example. It’s something I think Nick needs to do every day.

Poulin’s Praise

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Speaking of leaders, captain Marie-Phillip Poulin was once again the star of Team Canada in a 3-2 victory over the United States in the gold medal game of the women’s hockey tournament at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Thursday.

Poulin has now scored in four consecutive Olympic gold medal games for Canada with a total of seven goals in those games. She also scored the game-winning goal in Canada’s last three Olympic gold medal victories.

“She’s a hell of a player,” said Byron of the Canadiens after Thursday morning’s optional practice. “I saw her personally on the ice. She’s quick, she’s skilled, she plays the right way, she has a good shot. She’s definitely one of the best in the world and I’m super happy for her.

Byron was on the ice with Poulin for the Dany Dubé Challenge, along with other NHL players.

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“I didn’t get to see all of her skills, but just watching her handle the puck, her shooting, her speed, her quickness, live gives you a different perspective of how good these girls really are,” said Byron. “I really hope women’s hockey starts to take big steps forward because they are incredible athletes. My daughter plays hockey, so it would be incredibly cool to see her maybe one day on TV and be half as good as Marie-Phillip.

Byron said he went to bed before the start of the women’s gold medal game at 11 p.m. Montreal time, but he and his teammates were watching the highlights at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard Thursday morning.

“I think the Canada-US rivalry is one of the best in hockey,” Byron said. “That’s what it’s all about, the passion and the energy. The Canadians always play amazing against them. Again, they had incredible play, incredible effort and I’m really proud of what they accomplished. The girls did wonders.

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And after?

The Canadiens take on the St. Louis Blues Thursday at the Bell Center (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

The St. Louis coach will make just one change to the Canadiens roster with Laurent Dauphin taking over from Toffoli. This means that Samuel Montembeault will return in front of the net.

After Thursday night’s game, the Canadiens will not play again until Sunday afternoon in New York against the Islanders (2 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM), followed by a game Monday night at the Bell Center against the Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

scowan@postmedia.com

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