Nick Suzuki on Canada’s 2nd Line At Practice

Considering this is a short tournament, where all 12 teams are guaranteed a minimum of 4 games, early line combinations are crucial to get right early on. With that being said, Suzuki should at the very least start the tournament with his linemates, but if things don’t work early on, there could be a shakeup rather quickly. Since both Suzuki and MacKinnon are natural centres, one of them will need to play on the wing to start the tournament. As per what the lines show, it seems that Suzuki will be the guy who will shift over to the wing.

In all honesty, the fact that Suzuki goes to the wing over MacKinnon makes sense, as it will likely be the Avalanche superstar who will drive the line offensively. MacKinnon is the 2nd leading scorer behind Connor McDavid in the NHL this season, and there’s no reason that the most talented player on the 2nd line should be shifted to the wing, as he has more room to make plays and feed both his wingers better up the middle.

What’s interesting about Canada’s lines on Sunday is that every line seems to have a defensive specialist and/or an agitator to fill out the lines. On the top line with Macklin Celebrini and Connor McDavid, there is the ultimate agitator in Tom Wilson, who will complete their unit. Wilson may be far from the most skilled player on Team Canada, but with the star power that both McDavid and Celebrini bring, they should make it work with Wilson as the final piece of the top line. This format is also a good way of balancing every line.

On the Suzuki-MacKinnon-Marchand line, they have arguably the 2nd best forward in the world right now pivoting their trio in MacKinnon, while having players that they can consider defensive specialists in Suzuki and Marchand, who will get under the opponents’ skin. While Suzuki and Marchand don’t bring the skill level that MacKinnon has, they do both have the ability to come up big in clutch situations, which is what the Olympics are all about. Not to mention that MacKinnon could easily help elevate both his potential linemates’ games with how great a talent he is. With that being said, Suzuki is in a great spot to start producing as soon as the tournament begins.

By playing with MacKinnon and Marchand, Suzuki is pushing Sidney Crosby down to the 3rd line with Mitch Marner and Mark Stone. Many expected Crosby to be with Marchand and MacKinnon to form an all-Nova Scotian line, but he will instead pivot to possibly Canada’s best 2-way line. Despite all three being very good defensively, they will provide Canada with good scoring depth. Crosby being the centre over Suzuki may be better, as the veteran is a lot better at faceoffs. Meanwhile, at this point in time, Suzuki can possibly produce just as much offensively, if not more, than the 38-year-old Crosby. That’s not a knock on Crosby but a compliment on Suzuki’s game. So far in the NHL this season, Suzuki has put up 65 points in 57 games, whereas Crosby has scored 59 points in 56 games.

On the other hand, it seems Suzuki is not on any of Canada’s power play units, despite being one of the highest-performing players on the man advantage this season. Suzuki’s 10 goals and 31 points on the power play are the 3rd most in the entire NHL, behind only McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. In fact, almost half of Suzuki’s points are on the power play, which just shows how important he can be on the man advantage. However, Suzuki will likely be used on the penalty kill which is where they will need him most as his defensive awareness is among the most elite in the world.

All in all, Suzuki really does bring the best of both offence and defence, which allows him to be a Swiss army knife for Canada in this tournament. If Canada ends up needing him on the power play he can easily fit there but with the overall star power, it’s easier to separate the penalty killers and power play specialists for the tournament.

This is why playing Suzuki with Marchand and MacKinnon makes sense to help balance out the country’s top forward group. It will be interesting to see if they all stick together long-term or if we see line adjustments very early on.