Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki speaks out on team's 'biggest question' involving rebuild - "Don’t want to see this go backwards"

Nick Suzuki, captain of the Montreal Canadiens, spoke after the team’s season concluded. He discussed the challenge of adding more young players without losing the team's progress. Suzuki said the team should keep moving forward, not backward.

“I think that’s the biggest question right now,” Suzuki said, via athletic.com. “As one of the leaders on the team, we don’t want to see this go backwards in any way."

He said the Canadiens already have many young players and top picks. Next season, more young talent like Ivan Demidov (full season) and David Reinbacher could join the roster. But Suzuki said experience still matters. He believes the team needs a good mix of young players and veterans to stay competitive.

"Obviously, we have a lot of top picks, a lot of talent, a lot of young guys that are trying to earn roster spots on this team," Suzuki said. "We were already the youngest team to make the playoffs, and technically, we might get younger next year. We’ll see."

Suzuki and the Canadiens were 40-31-11 in the regular season and finished fifth in the Atlantic Division. After losing in five games, they lost to the Washington Capitals in the first round.

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki disagrees with teammates on finishing rebuild

Some of Nick Suzuki’s teammates had a different opinion. Josh Anderson and Juraj Slafkovský said the rebuild feels finished. They believe making the playoffs means the team is ready for the next step.

However, Suzuki disagreed with his teammates and said the rebuild is ongoing.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “We’ve got a ton of picks, a ton of young guys coming up. Who knows how that’s going to turn out and what kind of players they’re going to become? It’s a process. Every year’s going to be different. It’s on Kent and Gorts and those guys to try to put the best team out there that they can and (for) us players to go out and do our job.”

The Canadiens now have a strong young core. It includes Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson, Juraj Slafkovský, and probably Ivan Demidov. All of them made progress this season.

Suzuki led the Canadiens in offense with 89 points and a plus-minus of 19. He had a strong season on both offense and defense and scored two goals in five playoff games. Hutson also proved he can adjust to the NHL quickly with five playoff points, 66 regular-season points and 60 assists.