All-around play puts Suzuki on good footing to win spot with Team Canada

BROSSARD, Que. — Doug Armstrong couldn’t have missed it. 

With seconds left in overtime of a game on Nov. 4 at the Bell Centre, he had a bird’s eye view of one prospective Team Canada member robbing another of a game-winning opportunity, and it had to have made a strong impression on him.

Surely the architect of Canada’s Olympic team noted the whole sequence, which started with Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki winning a defensive-zone draw back clean right before bailing his team out for not recovering the puck. 

But when the Philadelphia Flyers snapped it around before it arrived on Travis Konecny’s stick for a one-timer, seeing Suzuki flash out, drop to a knee and block Konecny’s shot to send the game to a shootout had to have been eye-popping to Armstrong. 

Had it been Konecny on Suzuki, it wouldn’t have stood out as much to him. Konecny’s penchant for putting his body on the line to win a game is a big part of what earned him his role on Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off last February, so watching him step out of the lane on a Suzuki shot to beat his Flyers would’ve been watching him do something completely out of character.

But Suzuki showing that doing this kind of thing is a feature of his character—in his 22^nd minute of action in a game he’d already contributed a goal to—would have to weigh in the balance of the Olympic decision, which must be rendered by Dec. 31.

Since Nov. 5, it’s only gotten more complex for Armstrong and the others involved in choosing the roster.

Suzuki and Konecny have each recorded nine points and plus-5 ratings through their last 11 games, though the former did it while simultaneously nursing his way back to full health after blocking the latter’s shot. Meanwhile, other players in contention for coveted spots have exploded offensively.

One of them is Connor Bedard, who’s put up 21 points in 12 games since Nov. 5, placing him only behind one other Canadian—Nathan MacKinnon, who has 24 points and a plus-21 rating over his last 11 games and is already locked into the roster.

Armstrong is certainly not the only one who’s noticed what Bedard’s been doing.

“I watched the Hawks (Sunday) night and they were down 3-0 early, and he kind of brought them back pretty quick,” said Suzuki’s linemate, Cole Caufield. “So…four points…”

Macklin Celebrini had just one on Saturday, but he still produced 18 over the 12 prior to that, making him the third-most productive Canadian player since Suzuki blocked that Konecny shot in front of Armstrong at the Bell Centre.

The 19-year-old, who was taken first overall by the San Jose Sharks in 2024, has 13 goals and 37 points through 26 games so far. And 20-year-old Bedard, who was taken first by the Blackhawks in 2023, has 16 goals, 37 points through 25 games.

They both have produced more than any other player not named MacKinnon, and each of them have posted nine more points than Suzuki, who’s only played 24 games so far.

Where Bedard and Celebrini fall behind the Canadiens’ captain is in big-game experience, which is more a function of their ages than anything else. As is the level of detail in their game when compared to Suzuki’s.

Martin St. Louis, who coaches Suzuki and played for Team Canada at the 2014 Olympics, said that last part is what matters most to Team Canada.

We didn’t have to ask him if he believes Suzuki should make it based on his attention to detail. We know he does.

But hearing St. Louis say, “If you lack little details, you have to be a top-10 player in the world,” only highlighted how tempted Armstrong and the Canadian brass may be in having both Bedard and Celebrini at the Olympics.

Bedard being plus-10 on his season while averaging 21:15 per game suggests his details have come a long way.

And Celebrini showed those who were watching him—and those who were playing with him—at the 2025 world championship that he’s got a lot more detail to his game than most players his age.

“I think that’s what makes him really special, is he’s not a one-trick pony,” said Canadiens defenceman Mike Matheson, who played for Team Canada alongside Celebrini last summer. “He doesn’t just get it done on one side of the ice. He’s very committed to both sides and he already has a very responsible game for a guy who’s putting up very good numbers. So, obviously a guy that you could envision being up and down the lineup on a team like that.”

Matheson knows the same is true of Suzuki.

He’s played with the London, Ont., native since 2022 and watched him blossom into one of the most complete players in the league. It’s left the 31-year-old in awe of the growth in his teammate’s game.

“I think it’s just getting more and more complete every season, every game,” said Matheson. “He’s so consistent in the way he plays. He just kind of keeps adding to it, which is really impressive from where it was at the beginning of my time here.”

Konecny was strong over the same period, with back-to-back 30-goal seasons leading into a 24-goal, career-high 76-point 2024-25 campaign.

Konecny just hasn’t been as productive to start this season, making it harder to envision him filling a role further up Canada’s roster.

He had a hard time filling a role further down the lineup at the 4 Nations. He was in and out of their lineup due to illness and injury, which only ratcheted up the pressure on him to follow up a strong finish to last season with an explosive start to this one. 

Five goals and 19 points through 24 games wouldn’t be considered explosive by any measure. 

But even if goals and points aren’t the only measures of what makes Konecny effective, his totals are underwhelming compared to those of other Canadians who could fill the type of role he’d occupy at the Olympics.

Both he and Anthony Cirelli have to be looking over their shoulders at Suzuki and six-foot-four winger Tom Wilson, who’s recorded 15 goals and 29 points through Washington’s first 26 games. 

Like Konecny, Cirelli’s numbers are far from exceptional. 

But they are respectable, as he has nine goals and 17 points in 21 games so far this season. And even if Suzuki and Wilson produce more and can also kill penalties, Cirelli is the most dependable penalty killer for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who currently have the NHL’s most effective penalty kill.

Jon Cooper, who coaches the Lightning and Team Canada, will have a huge say in the Olympic decision, and you better believe he’ll be pushing to have Cirelli next to fellow Lightning and 4 Nations winger Brandon Hagel for the tournament.

With 11 goals and 18 points in 11 games since Nov. 5, Hagel’s another player who’s outproduced Suzuki of late.

But Suzuki showing at the beginning of November that he’s about more than just production in front of Canada’s lead decision maker was more important for his case than anything else that’s happened since. Because Armstrong saw Suzuki lead all NHLers with 56 points from the first game after 4 Nations through the one on Nov. 4 and already knew he had the top-end production to play up Team Canada’s lineup.

Seeing Suzuki reinforce his league-leading plus-25 through that stretch with a sacrifice to keep the Canadiens alive in that game against the Flyers showed he can play in any role.

It puts Suzuki on strong footing in the tightening race for spots to complete Canada’s forward group.

Now he must sprint towards the finish line while continuing to show he’s willing to do anything else it takes to get the job done.