Nick Suzuki lived via the darkish days.
The Montreal Canadiens captain made the playoffs — together with a magical, inconceivable pandemic journey to the Stanley Cup remaining — in his first two NHL campaigns.
He wouldn’t be again for fairly a while.
The Authentic Six franchise subsequently missed the post-season three years working because it pivoted to a rebuild. Franchise legends Carey Value and Shea Weber exited stage proper. The roster was largely torn all the way down to the studs.
There have been loads of robust moments. Montreal, nonetheless, believed it was on the appropriate path. What wasn’t clear was when a breakthrough would really come.
Jeffrey T. Barnes
It has arrived on a Could evening in Western New York — and people painful moments have been price it.
The Canadiens are off to the Jap Convention remaining and can face the Carolina Hurricanes following a roller-coaster, seven-game victory over the Buffalo Sabres within the second spherical.
“It’s been a protracted journey,” Suzuki mentioned within the bowels of KeyBank Heart late Monday evening following a 3-2 extra time victory that clinched the sequence. “From after we went to the Cup remaining, then we completed final place in the entire league, to the place we at the moment are … there’s been quite a lot of totally different steps.”
The method started in earnest with the hiring of Jeff Gorton to steer hockey operations in November 2021. That continued with the addition of former participant agent Kent Hughes as common supervisor two months later and Martin St. Louis as head coach in February 2022.
Montreal would backside out within the standings that season and earn the appropriate choose top-line winger Juraj Slafkovsky with the primary total decide on the NHL draft earlier than additionally snagging future No. 1 defenceman Lane Hutson late within the second spherical.
Trades included buying defenceman Mike Matheson together with forwards Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook, who has develop into Montreal’s Mr. Recreation 7 after bagging the winner towards the Tampa Bay Lightning on this spring’s opening spherical and likewise sending Buffalo packing in further time.
St. Louis mentioned the group didn’t have a particular rebuild timeline, however sticking to core rules was the important thing.
“I like our course of,” mentioned the Corridor of Fame ahead. “There’s days which are higher than others, however we simply come every single day and attempt to win that day. Perhaps it’s that mentality that has accelerated us.
“We simply attempt to handle every day.”
Flashy ahead Ivan Demidov — a task of the cube as a Russian beneath contract within the Kontinental Hockey League — was then picked fifth in 2024 and joined the membership late final season as one other piece in an elite ahead group led by Suzuki and future 50-goal man Cole Caufield.
“One thing was brewing over right here for the final couple years,” mentioned veteran winger Josh Anderson, one other 2021 Cup run holdover. “We’ve been working actually arduous to construct what we’ve acquired occurring proper now. Typically it’s important to undergo these rising pains to achieve success.
“It was simply good to do it collectively.”
There have been by no means any age-related excuses for the group — the youngest staff to make the third spherical because the 1993 Canadiens with a mean of 25.8 years — through the rebuild.
“It’s simple to simply use the age as a crutch,” mentioned St. Louis, whose staff opens the East remaining Thursday in Raleigh, N.C. “The method that we have now in place, and the surroundings and the mindset … it’s allowed us to develop regardless of how outdated we’re.
“You’ll be able to be taught something should you put your thoughts to it.”
The Canadiens returned to the playoffs final April towards the Washington Capitals, falling in 5 video games as a wild-card seed.
Montreal, which added one other blue-line piece in Noah Dobson over the summer time and noticed Jakub Dobes emerge as its go-to goaltender, surged to 106 factors and a third-place end within the Atlantic Division in 2025-26 earlier than surviving a slugfest with Tampa and securing a back-and-forth Buffalo matchup.
“What we’re going via proper now, you’ll be able to’t purchase that,” St. Louis mentioned. “It’s wonderful. I’m so comfortable for the gamers to reside that. It’s unreal to play within the NHL. However to get to reside this do-or-die state of affairs, by way of transferring on otherwise you’re accomplished, scoring the massive objective in extra time, that feeling {that a} participant has, it’s unbelievable.
“Our age is our age. We’re simply going to concentrate on what can we do as a staff.”
Matheson mentioned the gamers have been beginning to get sick of listening to in regards to the rebuild.
“Slightly bored with that entire viewpoint,” he mentioned. “As if we have now to maintain being affected person, and wait and our time will come.
“It’s thrilling for us and motivating for us to see that we’re at this stage already.”
Newhook, who gained the Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, sees a Montreal staff with all of the instruments to maintain transferring on.
“We all know what we’re able to,” he mentioned. “We’re excited to maintain it rolling.”
Suzuki mentioned the idea has been there all alongside {that a} new Canadiens daybreak was coming. Now they’re basking in its glow — with even harder challenges to come back.
“It’s actually cool to be on this state of affairs this quick and being such a younger staff,” he mentioned. “We simply have quite a lot of enjoyable … simply need to maintain the journey going.”
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