long-suffering flyers fan, nick suzuki evangelist, little guys with gumption appreciator, and terrible personality. i never trust a lead. sometimes i post about metal. tags and more information.
i think that's really where suzuki has taken a step this season. he's helped both caufield and slafkovsky enormously. and both of those guys also got help from marty st-louis, adam nicholas . . . it starts with martin st-louis in the sense that he, long ago, last season even, determined that cole caufield needs to be a more well-rounded player. but it helps that nick suzuki's on board with it and he sees it too. so in game, he can mention things on the bench, or a good backcheck. i noticed the other night, tuesday night, cole had an amazing neutral zone backcheck that created a turnover, and the canadiens got the puck back and spent another 15-20 seconds in the offensive zone as a result and that's just something that was absent in cole caufield's game before this season. there's a trickle-down effect from this . . . i would call it almost cute, the way nick and cole were so invested in slafkovsky's improvement. they saw it as their own personal challenge to get him there and once he got over a certain hump, he was doing it on his own. but juraj's confidence has never been an issue . . . i think nick is the mini-coach on that line.
sounds like nick isn't going to worlds and like a) i get it, he's probably fucking tired from carrying that team on his back 82 games a year for five years and he's probably been playing through minor injuries, and b) i know he feels like he shouldn't have to prove that he's qualified to make the olympic team (and he shouldn't! he's very good!) but i'm worried that this is gonna kill his hopes for making the olympic team and i'm really sad about that.
“Was anyone more loyal?” || 6/7/04, Dave Sandford via Getty Images || 6/7/04, Brian Bahr via Getty Images || “Was anyone more loyal?” || 2/8/11, Scott Audette via Getty Images || Reddit || “Show Them” || Reddit || Photo Gallery: Martin St. Louis jersey retirement || “Show Them”
Denis Brodeur/NHLI via Getty Images | Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images | No small honors for St. Louis | Courtesy of Martin St. Louis | Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images | No small honors for St. Louis | The ascension of Cole Caufield from teary-eyed toddler to rink rat to prolific scorer | Caufield On St. Louis: ‘I Grew Up Wearing 26 Because Of Him.’ | Joel Auerbach/Getty Images | Martin St-Louis & Mats Naslund