Sid Seixeiro isn't letting NHL Network's latest center rankings slide, and Nick Suzuki's name is at the center of it.
The Montreal Canadiens captain finished the season with 101 points, and now he's been slotted behind Auston Matthews in NHL Network's rankings.
"The Nick Suzuki move has gotten people in Montreal a little upset," Seixeiro said, and he wasn't done there.
"Nick Suzuki is a healthier player than Auston Matthews. Yes. Nick Suzuki, having won the Selke Trophy, is a better defensive center than Auston Matthews," Seixeiro argued.
The numbers back part of his case. Suzuki played all 82 games this season, posting 29 goals and 72 assists alongside a plus-37 rating.
Matthews, by comparison, appeared in 60 games and finished with 53 points on 27 goals and 26 assists, a minus-4 rating attached to that stretch.
"Nick Suzuki had 100 points last season. Did Matthews? Nope," Seixeiro said. "In what world is Auston Matthews, right now, a better center than Nick Suzuki?"
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Seixeiro delivers explosive verdict in Suzuki-Matthews debate
Suzuki's Selke Trophy win adds a layer Matthews simply doesn't have on his résumé this season. Defensive responsibility matters in these debates, whether rankings reflect it or not.
Seixeiro pushed the point further, invoking two of the most respected two-way centers in NHL history.
"Nick Suzuki, I believe, is like the third center ever to have a 100-point season and win the Selke, like Fedorov and Doug Gilmour," he said. "That list is a massive insult to Nick Suzuki."
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Montreal finished the regular season 48-24-10, good for 106 points and a plus-27 goal differential under Martin St-Louis. Suzuki was the engine behind that turnaround.
Toronto, meanwhile, closed out at 32-36-14, a rough 78-point finish with a minus-46 goal differential and a seven-game losing streak to end the year.
That gap in team results is exactly the kind of context Seixeiro leaned on. Individual talent matters, but so does what a player builds around him.
"Auston Matthews, not by one bit would any of us deem him, at this point right now, a better hockey player than Nick Suzuki," Seixeiro said. "And he's a better captain."
Rankings debates rarely settle anything. But when a Selke winner with 101 points gets ranked behind an injury-limited scorer, the pushback writes itself.
Should Nick Suzuki be ranked ahead of Auston Matthews among NHL centers?
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