Stu Cowan just reported that Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis doesn't know if captain Nick Suzuki will be ready to face the Mammoth Thursday.
That is not a comforting answer on a day when Montreal is still sorting out Tuesday night's 5-4 overtime loss to the Jets. The Canadiens (9-3-3) sit second in the Atlantic Division, and they have done it with their top center in street clothes for a good chunk of the schedule.
Cowan noted that St-Louis wouldn't commit either way on Suzuki, and that the Habs are 5-0-1 in the six games since the hand injury.
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Suzuki was off to a strong start before he went down, with 12 points in nine games and a +6 rating. Montreal has managed without him, but nine games is nine games, and the Canadiens captain drives a lot of what they do.
The injury report doesn't match the optimism you might read into a day-to-day tag. Suzuki is listed as day-to-day with a hand injury, but the latest report says he is expected to be out until at least Nov 18. That return date is an estimate, yet it points well past Thursday.
So St-Louis saying he doesn't know is probably the honest answer, not a bluff.
Why the Canadiens shouldn't rush their captain back
Rushing Suzuki back for a Thursday game against Utah would be a bad idea. Montreal is 7-1-2 over its last 10 and is collecting points without him, so there is no emergency that calls for gambling on a hand.
The workload on the blue line last night tells its own story. Kaiden Guhle played 25:18 and Lane Hutson 24:14 in a game that went to overtime, and the Canadiens still gave up five goals to Winnipeg.
Utah arrives in a good place too. The Mammoth are 10-6-0, second in the Central Division, and they won 3-2 in Toronto on Tuesday behind a three-assist night from Clayton Keller.
Suzuki's status also sits in the middle of a busy week for the franchise. Pierre LeBrun recently said Nikita Kucherov's relationship with St-Louis cannot be ignored in the Lightning star's trade picture, and every lineup question around this coach now gets read through that lens.
For now the Canadiens' next lineup decision is a simple one. The puck drops Thursday at home against Utah, and until Suzuki skates and St-Louis says otherwise, the Nov 18 estimate on the injury report is the date to watch.
Should the Canadiens keep Nick Suzuki out until he is fully healed, even if he is cleared before Nov 18?
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