{"id":525690,"date":"2026-03-27T12:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/525690\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:54:16","slug":"montreal-canadiens-nick-suzuki-is-putting-1c-debates-to-bed-the-hockey-writers-montreal-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/525690\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki Is Putting ‘1C’ Debates to Bed – The Hockey Writers – Montreal Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s become somewhat of an annual tradition for fans across the NHL to debate whether Montreal Canadiens<\/a> captain Nick Suzuki<\/a> is a true \u201c1C.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a poll of 6,278 responders conducted by JFreshHockey on Twitter\/X<\/a>, the splits for the question of \u201cIs Suzuki a legit No. 1 centre on a Cup contender?\u201d were as follows:<\/p>\n

34.0% for \u201cHabs fan saying \u2018yes.’\u201d<\/p>\n

1.9% for \u201cHabs fan saying \u2018no.’\u201d<\/p>\n

37.7% for \u201cNon-Habs fan saying \u2018yes.’\u201d<\/p>\n

26.4% for \u201cNon-Habs fan saying \u2018no.’\u201d<\/p>\n

A large majority of Canadiens fans view Suzuki as a true 1C. The average hockey fan agrees (well, at least those who responded), although there are still quite a few doubters.<\/p>\n

While both results are in favour of Suzuki being a Stanley Cup-calibre No. 1 centre, let\u2019s dive into the argument anyway. Why is Suzuki deserving of the 1C label, and where does he rank among the league\u2019s best?<\/p>\n

Suzuki\u2019s 1C Impact<\/p>\n

Just looking at the numbers gives you a pretty obvious indication that Suzuki is among the elite. With 24 goals and 62 assists through 71 games, he\u2019s ninth in NHL point-scoring and just barely on pace to miss the century mark. Furthermore, he\u2019s 10 points clear of Cole Caufield<\/a>, the next-best-scoring Canadien<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ScottMontreal Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki scores a goal against Colorado Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood (Eric Bolte-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Suzuki isn\u2019t just dominating in the scoring race, though. He\u2019s the clear frontrunner for the Selke Trophy this season, given his unmatched two-way impact on a team that fancies itself as a contender.<\/p>\n

According to Hockey Stats<\/a>, Suzuki ranks second among forwards in even-strength defensive Wins Above Replacement<\/a> (WAR) and in the top 50 on the penalty kill. He has been exceptional at both ends of the ice and will probably be rewarded for that at the NHL Awards ceremony this June.<\/p>\n

The stats make this argument pretty cut-and-dry\u2014Suzuki is a 1C. But the eye test works heavily in his favour, too.<\/p>\n

Montreal has the seventh-best record in the NHL, with 90 points in 71 games. That\u2019s a level of success<\/a> the team hasn\u2019t seen since 2016\u201317. With that established, it says a lot about Suzuki that he is the go-to guy on every power play. Everyone on the ice wants to feed him puck touches, and that\u2019s for a reason. The offence flows through his ability to facilitate.<\/p>\n

Where Does Suzuki Rank Among Centres?<\/p>\n

That brings us to the question of where Suzuki ranks among the league\u2019s centres. Is he top 10?<\/p>\n

Related: 3 NCAA Free Agents the Canadiens Should Target<\/a><\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s list 10 of the best non-Suzuki centres in the league and see how he compares. This list will be subjective, but it gives us a good base: Aleksander Barkov, Macklin Celebrini, Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl, Jack Eichel, Jack Hughes, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Mark Scheifele.<\/p>\n

This is a pretty exclusive group, but Suzuki is definitely in it. For one, it\u2019s fair to take him over Scheifele. Their point production is almost identical, but defence favours the latter unequivocally. In addition, while Matthews is the more gifted player, Suzuki has been better over the last two seasons. You could even have discussions about Eichel and Hughes, though Hockey Stats\u2019 WAR model prefers those two.<\/p>\n

With all this in mind, Suzuki is about the eighth-best centre in the league, assuming everyone is healthy. That\u2019s closer to a franchise centre than a \u201c1C\u201d\u2014he\u2019s leaving those debates in the dust.<\/p>\n

All in all, the Canadiens are well-equipped to win the Stanley Cup someday with Suzuki taking on the first-line centre role. At 26 years old, his prime only recently began. He\u2019s most definitely a 1C.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s become somewhat of an annual tradition for fans across the NHL to debate whether Montreal Canadiens captain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[265,5,264,21,5147,4,975],"class_list":{"0":"post-525690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-canadiens","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-montreal","11":"tag-montreal-canadiens","12":"tag-montrealcanadiens","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-nick-suzuki"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116301246546156338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}