The Canadiens announced that forward Nick Suzuki (upper body) will be out two to four weeks. For a team that has already lost Ivan Demidov and Florian Xhekaj to injured reserve, this is the biggest hit of the season so far. It also ends something that does not get talked about enough: Suzuki has never missed a regular-season game as a Canadien.

Update from practice (Thursday, Montreal): Oliver Kapanen centered Juraj Slafkovský and Cole Caufield on the top line, taking Suzuki’s spot. The other forward lines did not change.

L'attaquant Nick Suzuki (haut du corps) ratera de deux à quatre semaines d'activité.

Forward Nick Suzuki (upper body) will be out for two to four weeks. pic.twitter.com/Fz3g6XvVzy

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 22, 2026

The Streak Stops at 546

Suzuki has dressed for every regular-season game of his NHL career: 546 in a row. That is 71 of 71 in his first year, 56 of 56 in the shortened 2020-21 season, five full 82-game seasons and the first nine games of this one. Add 56 playoff games and he has played 602 times for Montreal without one night off. In today’s NHL, where players are hit, blocked and cut every night, that is a streak built on being tough as much as being lucky.

Season	Games played	Team games
2019-20	71	71
2020-21	56	56
2021-22	82	82
2022-23	82	82
2023-24	82	82
2024-25	82	82
2025-26	82	82
2026-27	9	9
Total	546	546

How It Happened

The team says only “upper body,” but the game tape gives us a good idea. In the third period against San Jose, at 14:26, Suzuki blocked a shot from the point by Sharks defenseman Kesselring. From what I saw, he hurt his hand on that block. That is my read, not the team’s word, so treat it that way until the Canadiens say more.

What stands out is that he stayed in the game. The NHL shift chart shows he took two more shifts in the third period and then the first 1 minute 53 seconds of overtime, which ended before Celebrini scored the winner. He finished with a goal and an assist in 21:03. A player who blocks a shot with his hand and keeps playing like that is exactly why the injury was not obvious until the announcement.

What the Canadiens Lose

Suzuki leads the team with 12 points in nine games, three more than Lane Hutson (9) and four more than Cole Caufield (8). He has 5 goals on 26 shots, a plus-6 rating, the most ice time of any forward at 21:47 a night, and he wins 53.8 percent of his faceoffs. Last season he scored 101 points, a career high, and this start was on the same path.

The bigger problem is what he does for the players around him. He plays between Juraj Slafkovský and Caufield, the line that has carried the offense, and he is the player who takes the important faceoffs and works the power play with them. When your best center leaves, you do not lose one player. You lose the way the whole forward group is organized. The power play was already 4 for 27 through eight games, and that is the area where his absence will be felt first.

Who Plays Center Now

Here is where the Canadiens stand at center today, before any lineup change.

Center	GP	G-A-PTS	TOI/GP	Faceoff %
Nick Suzuki (out)	9	5-7-12	21:47	53.8
Phillip Danault	9	0-2-2	15:52	51.2
Alex Newhook	9	1-3-4	16:16	59.1
Jake Evans	9	0-0-0	13:33	52.7
Kirby Dach	9	0-1-1	9:49	50.0
Oliver Kapanen	2	0-0-0	11:05	—
Owen Beck	2	0-0-0	7:22	—

The practice lines answered the big question, and not the way I expected. I suggested Phillip Danault on the top line, but the Canadiens put Oliver Kapanen between Slafkovský and Caufield. My read is that they want a skilled center who keeps the puck moving for those two, not a checking center who protects it. It is also a big opportunity for Kapanen, who has played only two games this season without a point and averages 11:05 a night. He now gets two of the team’s best scorers on his wings and a much bigger role than he has had so far.

The other forward lines did not change at practice. That means the Newhook line with Kreider and Anderson stays together, which is what I wanted because it is scoring, and Danault stays where he was. Only one piece moved, and that is the way I like to handle an injury to a key player.

The forward group is thin. With Demidov on injured reserve, Suzuki out and Beck recalled, the Canadiens have very little room on the road, and a player can sit on injured reserve for a while before the team makes his return official, so the lineup can still change before Friday. One more injury and Laval has to send someone else. You can read how we saw the Beck recall yesterday; it looks different today.

The Schedule Without Him

Two to four weeks means a lot of games. Counting from Friday, here is what the Canadiens play over that stretch.

Date	Opponent	Games missed
Fri Oct 23	at Chicago	1
Sun Oct 25	at Winnipeg	2
Tue Oct 27	at St. Louis	3
Thu Oct 29	at Dallas	4
Sat Oct 31	vs Pittsburgh	5
Tue Nov 3	vs Winnipeg	6
Thu Nov 5	vs Utah	7 (two-week mark)
Sat Nov 7 to Thu Nov 19	Toronto, Minnesota, Boston, Colorado, NY Rangers, New Jersey, Carolina	8 to 14 (four-week mark)

Seven games is 8 percent of an 84-game season and fourteen is about 17 percent. The next four games are all on the road, which is the hardest way to lose a player like this, because the opponent gets the last change and the coach cannot protect a new line with matchups.

Coach’s Take

I do not want to overreact. The Canadiens are 4-3-2 with 10 points, and this team has already shown it can compete without Demidov and Montembeault. But this is a different level. Suzuki is the captain, the first-line center and the player who makes the power play work. The best case is that the young players see it as their chance. Hutson, Caufield and Slafkovský are no longer kids in this league, and now they have to carry the team for a month, not just the highlights.

What I will watch now is how Kapanen handles the job. Chicago plays at home and gets the last change, so they can send their best checking line against him every shift. If Kapanen gets through that test at the morning skate and on Friday night, the Canadiens may have found something. If not, Danault is the easy fallback. Either way, the Habs just got a real test of their depth, and we will learn a lot about this team over the next seven games. Follow it on our Lineup Tonight page and the Injury Report.

Sources: Canadiens announcement on X; game data, shift charts and season stats from NHL.com.