Nick Suzuki

Nick Suzuki
Date of birth	August 10, 1999
place of birth	London , Ontario , Canada
size	180 cm
Weight	83 kg
position	center
number	# 14
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2017 , 1st round, 13th position Vegas Golden Knights
Career stations
2015-2019	Owen Sound Attack
2019	Guelph Storm
since 2019	Canadiens de Montréal

Nicholas "Nick" Suzuki (born August 10, 1999 in London , Ontario ) is a Canadian ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Canadiens de Montréal in the National Hockey League since September 2018 and has played there since October 2019 in the position of the center .

Career

Nick Suzuki was born in London and played there in his youth for the London Jr. Knights and the London Nationals in regional youth leagues. For the 2015/16 season he moved to the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), the highest-ranking junior division in his home province, and from then on played for the Owen Sound Attack . In their jersey, the attacker recorded 38 scorer points in his first year and was therefore elected to the OHL's First All-Rookie Team . In the following year, he increased these performances significantly to 96 points from 65 games, so that he was considered in the league's Second All-Star Team . At the same time, he was honored for his sporting fairness with the William Hanley Trophy and a little later as CHL Sportsman of the Year of the entire Canadian Hockey League . In the subsequent NHL Entry Draft 2017 , the Vegas Golden Knights finally selected him in 13th position, which made him the second pick in the history of the newly founded franchise after Cody Glass (position 6) . In July of the same year, the Canadian signed an entry-level contract in Vegas.

For the time being, however, Suzuki returned to Owen Sound and confirmed its statistics from the previous year with 100 scorer points. After he was honored again with the William Hanley Trophy, he made his professional debut with the farm team of the Golden Knights, the Chicago Wolves from the American Hockey League (AHL), as part of the playoffs. In the 2018/19 season he took over the position of team captain at the Attack, but was transferred to the Guelph Storm in January 2019 within the league in a swap deal comprising several players and draft options . With the Storm, the Canadian won the OHL playoffs for the J. Ross Robertson Cup , in which he made a significant contribution with 42 points and thus received the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the most valuable player of the post-season . He was also awarded the William Hanley Trophy for a third time in a row. In the following Memorial Cup 2019 he failed with the team in the semi-finals at the eventual winner from Rouyn-Noranda , but he was personally awarded the George Parsons Trophy again for his fair behavior .

In the meantime, the Golden Knights had surrendered their NHL rights to the Canadiens de Montréal in September 2018, including Tomáš Tatar and a second-round vote in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and received Max Pacioretty in return . As part of the preparation for the 2019/20 season, Suzuki finally won a place in the Canadiens squad and made his debut in the National Hockey League (NHL) in October 2019 .

International

Suzuki gained his first international experience during the World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2015 , where he promptly won the gold medal with Team Canada White . In the U18 age group, he took part in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament 2016 in the following year , where he finished fifth in the Canadian selection. He then represented the U20 national team of his home country at the U20 World Cup in 2019 and achieved sixth place there.

Achievements and Awards

2015 gold medal at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2016 OHL First All-Rookie Team 2017 William Hanley Trophy 2017 CHL Sportsman of the Year 2017 OHL Second All-Star Team 2018 William Hanley Trophy

2019 J. Ross Robertson Cup win with the Guelph Storm 2019 Wayne Gretzky 99 Award 2019 William Hanley Trophy 2019 OHL Third All-Star Team 2019 George Parsons Trophy

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2018/19 season

				Regular season							Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2015/16	Owen Sound Attack	OHL		63	20th	18th	38	-15	4th		6th	2	0	2	–6	0
2016/17	Owen Sound Attack	OHL		65	45	51	96	+51	10		17th	8th	15th	23	+7	10
2017/18	Owen Sound Attack	OHL		64	42	58	10	+30	18th		11	3	9	11	-4	2
2017/18	Chicago Wolves	AHL		-	-	-	-	-	-		1	0	0	0	± 0	0
2018/19	Owen Sound Attack	OHL		30th	22nd	23	45	+12	4th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Guelph Storm	OHL		29	12	37	49	+28	8th		24	16	26th	42	+22	16
2019	Guelph Storm	Memorial Cup									4th	3	4th	7th	+3	0
OHL total				251	141	187	328	+44	106		58	29	50	79	+19	28

International

Represented Canada to:

• World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2015
• Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament 2016
• U20 World Cup 2019

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2015	Canada White	WHC			6th	1	3	4th		2
2016	Canada	Hlinka Memorial	5th place		4th	1	2	3	+1	0
2019	Canada	U20 World Cup	6th place		5	0	3	3	+3	4th
Juniors overall					15th	2	8th	10		6th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

family

His family has Japanese roots. His brother Ryan Suzuki is also an ice hockey player and was selected in 28th position by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft . Additionally, both are distantly related to Canadian scientist and environmental activist David Suzuki .

Web links

• Player biography on the Canadiens de Montréal website
• Nick Suzuki at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Golden Knights Sign Three First-Round Picks To Entry-Level Contracts. nhl.com, July 16, 2017, accessed November 6, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Canadiens acquire Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki for Max Pacioretty. nhl.com, September 10, 2018, accessed November 6, 2019 . 
3. ^ Danny Webster: Suzuki feels more confident with Golden Knights. nhl.com, July 24, 2018, accessed November 6, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Stu Cowan: Nick Suzuki looking to make a name for himself with Canadiens. montrealgazette.com, September 16, 2019, accessed November 6, 2019 .