Montreal Canadiens Name New Captain

The Montreal Canadiens have named Nick Suzuki as their 31st captain in franchise history.

Capitaine Nick 🔥 #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/cg4orzLiw5

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 12, 2022

The team also announced that Brendan Gallagher and Joel Edmundson will be their alternate captains this season.

#Habs Suzuki is the team’s new captain.@TSN_Edge

Suzuki says St-Louis approached him around the Draft with the offer, Suzuki took a couple of months to think about it. Made the decision recently.

Gallagher and Edmundson are alternates. pic.twitter.com/29wDec6Kfh

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) September 12, 2022

There were rumblings that Suzuki would be the Canadiens' next captain, as he has been praised heavily for his leadership ability. The 23-year-old is also set to begin his eight-year, $63 million contract, so he will be rocking the "C' on his chest for several years. Overall, this decision seemed like a no-brainer.

Suzuki will be taking over captain duties from Shea Weber. It was announced before last season that Weber would never play in the NHL again, and the Canadiens traded his contract this offseason to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Evgenii Dadonov. Suzuki has big shoes (better yet, skates?) to fill in replacing Weber, but he should do well. 

In 209 career games with the Canadiens, Suzuki has 49 goals, 94 assists, and 143 points. It will be fun to see what he does now as the team's captain from here.

Photo Credit (both): © Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports