No Feeling Is Final

BASU: I think a lot. I think the biggest one that he's picked up from Shea Weber is his propensity for organizing group activities, for making sure everyone's involved, making sure everyone on the team feels part of the group. We've heard countless players, when they are traded, or arrive in Montreal as a new player on the team, the first person to reach out is Nick Suzuki. He's very cognizant of the group dynamic and that is something that Shea Weber did very well, and he did so behind the scenes a lot. I remember one year, someone had mentioned a group activity that Weber had organized during training camp, and I asked to speak to him about it, and he didn't wanna come out and do a full scrum. So the Canadiens PR brought me to kind of the back area of the dressing room to talk to him, and even then, he refused to tell me what he'd organized. He just said uh, I'm not gonna tell you, you could find out anyway, but it won't be from me, you can go ask the guys if they want to tell you, but I'm not telling you. And that's kind of how Nick Suzuki operates, you know, he doesn't... He organizes their golf outings whenever the team goes out to play golf, he's the one taking care of it, he's getting all the logistics ready.

And in the room, and on the ice, he's just an understated, lead by example type. And I think that also, he learned a lot of that from Shea Weber, and just, you don't have to talk about it, go out and do it, and show everyone that you're willing to do it. And I think the first series (Round 1, Tampa-Montreal 2026) was a perfect example of it. I think if any guy on that team looked at Nick Suzuki and said, okay, well I could be sort of slumping my shoulder and hanging my head that I haven't been able to score yet, but he hasn't been able to score either and look at what he's doing. You know, he's making an impact without scoring, and maybe I should do that too.

GODIN: Well Weber identified very early on that Suzuki had what it takes to take over, and he mentioned as much to the Canadiens brass back then. And in both cases, those guys are very steady in their behaviour, in their mood. The whole cliché of never too high, never too low, I think that that even-keel aspect is something that they both have. Weber could get angry on the ice, but I think that generally, what his presence, and what he commanded towards his teammates was just, steady, every day, keep at it, focus on the task at hand, and you know, there was not much fluctuation. And you don't see that either from Nick, and I think it's a huge quality to have.

And so, it's very much the lead by example stuff and the team building, you know—when everyone says like this group loves each other and we're so tight, a lot of that is Nick Suzuki, like he's really a big part of that. And I think he learned that from Shea Weber, that was one of Shea Weber's biggest qualities as a leader was how he made everyone feel welcome at all times. And he did that in very subtle ways, but like, when Victor Mete showed up at his first training camp for instance, I remember that his first day of training camp, Shea Weber invited him and Lehkonen over for steaks. And they had steak at his house, just him and Lehkonen. That's just, it's just the kind of guy he was. And I think Suzuki is very similar in that way.