Four minutes. Here is the time spent by Nick Suzuki in the penalty box since the start of the 2024-2025 season.
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The captain of the Montreal Canadiens has shown great discipline so far, receiving only two minor penalties. If the Lady Byng Trophy were to be awarded today, he would certainly have his name in the hat of the finalists.
CH number 14 was first sanctioned by officials on October 27 against the Philadelphia Flyers after obstructing forward Garneth Hathaway. He then did it again on November 11 against the Buffalo Sabers by tripping defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.
However, he could well have received leniency from the officials on this infraction since the contact seemed accidental. See in the sequence above.
If we look at the ranking of the best scorers in the National Hockey League (NHL), only Brayden Point of the Tampa Lightning and Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings were punished less than Suzuki within the top-50. Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights and Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils also did very well with six penalty minutes each.
-Still, it’s not like Suzuki avoids physical play like the plague. In recent games, he has not been shy about dishing out good shoulder shots, but always respecting the rules established by the NHL and supervised by the referees on the ice.
Lightning star Nikita Kucherov and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Nolan Allan have also tasted his medicine in recent weeks.
His name also appears in the top-50 of the circuit among attackers for average playing time per match with 19 min 27 sec. He also faces the best players from other teams on the circuit night after evening.
With 45 points in 44 games, he is on track to have the best season of his career and the first with a point per game average above 1.00.
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