Another huge problem just surfaced for Martin St-Louis and the Canadiens
Nick Suzuki and Martin St-Louis are staring at the cost of one of Montreal's biggest strengths.
Suzuki looked drained.
That is not a shot at the captain. It is the reality of what this season has asked from him, and what the Canadiens kept demanding right through the spring.
By the count making the rounds, this was Suzuki's 101st NHL game of the year.
Add the Olympics on top of that, and it starts to look even heavier.
The workload is one thing.
The bigger issue is how obvious it has become on the ice. The pace is not always the same, the jump is harder to find, and there are moments when Suzuki looks like a player running on fumes instead of instinct.
That should worry Montreal.
Because Suzuki is not some secondary piece the Canadiens can shelter for a few shifts. He is the captain, the matchup center, the guy who has to carry top-six minutes and keep the whole group settled when games start getting away.
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Things just got even worse for Martin St-Louis after latest development
The durability is still incredible.
Suzuki has now played 537 of 537 possible games over 7 seasons, which is an outrageous standard in today's NHL and says everything about his toughness and reliability.
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But that streak comes with a cost too.
At some point, being available every night stops sounding only impressive and starts sounding dangerous for a player carrying this much responsibility. Especially when the season stretches this deep and the body has no real chance to reset.
That is where St-Louis and the Canadiens have to be honest.
Montreal loves what Suzuki gives them. Every team in the league would. But loving it is not the same thing as managing it the right way.
The Canadiens still need more support down the middle, more help in the top six, and frankly more nights where Suzuki does not have to drag the whole thing through mud.
Because if the captain looks cooked now, that is not a character problem.
That is a roster problem.
And it is one that should follow Montreal straight into the offseason.
Suzuki did his part again.
Maybe too much of it.
The next step for the Canadiens is making sure this team stops needing its best center to survive absolutely everything on his own.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 29, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexander Nikishin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Phillip Danault | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||