Free washer | Generations Y and Z are finally entitled to their piece of the pie

Consulting the National Hockey League scoring rankings Tuesday morning, we notice three young Canadian players in an enviable position.

With 43 points in 42 games, captain Nick Suzuki, 25, ranks 30^e rank, tied with Tim Stützle of the Ottawa Senators, one point behind William Nylander and Sebastien Aho, while having played two fewer games. CH’s number one center is also located four points from Brayden Point and top 20.

His trusty winger, Cole Caufield, 24, ranks ninth in goals with 23, a pace of 45 goals over a full season. Caufield has scored as many times as Kyle Connor and is just two goals away from joining Mark Scheifele, Brayden Point and Mikko Rantanen in third place.

Lane Hutson ranks ninth among defensemen in points. He has 32 in 42 games, 62 prorated over a full season. He has as many points as Victor Hedman and Evan Bouchard, one more than Erik Karlsson, one less than Adam Fox. Three points separate it from top 5.

It has been rare in recent decades to be able to rejoice in the offensive successes of Canadian players. The goalkeeper was always at the forefront, first Patrick Roy in the 1980s and 1990s, then José Théodore, and finally Carey Price. The forwards were almost support players for the goalie and we owed the team’s rare successes to his prowess: Conn-Smythe trophies (player of excellence in the playoffs) awarded to Patrick Roy during the 1986 and 1993 conquests. , Hart trophies (most valuable player) and Vézina (best goalie) to José Théodore in 2002 and to Carey Price in 2015.

The Canadian’s supporters were still entitled to a few offensive rays of sunshine in the 21st^e century. Alex Kovalev had an 84-point season in 2007-2008, but he arrived in Montreal at age 30, stayed there only four years and never obtained more than 65 points in his other three seasons.

Saku Koivu did the best he could for ten years, without meeting the immense expectations placed on him. Nick Suzuki already beat Koivu’s career high last year at age 24 by 2 points, with 77.

Max Pacioretty was one of the good scorers of his generation. He had five seasons of 30 or more goals between 2011 and 2017, but he never reached the 40 mark, which Caufield should be able to do this season if he doesn’t get injured.

There was PK Subban, of course, the first major offensive superstar drafted and developed by the Canadiens in four decades. His 38 points in 42 games during the shortened 2012-13 season would have given him 74 in 82 games. That year, Subban became the first Canadian defenseman since Chris Chelios in 1989 to win the Norris Trophy awarded to the outstanding defenseman.

But three at the same time? A counter in the top 30a scorer of top 10 and a defender in the top 10 ? We have to go back to the 1987-1988 season.

That year, center Bobby Smith finished 15^e rank among NHL scorers with 93 points in 78 games. Stéphane Richer had scored 50 goals, for seventh place among scorers, and Chris Chelios had occupied ninth place among defensemen in the league with 61 points in 71 games.

Two of those three players, Richer and Chelios, had been drafted and developed by the organization. Smith had been acquired five years earlier from the Minnesota North Stars for Keith Acton and Mark Napier. He was already 30 years old during his famous 93-point season. Chris Chelios was 28 and Richer was going to celebrate his 22nd birthday.

Suzuki, Caufield and Hutson are all 25 years old or younger. Suzuki went undrafted by the team, but Marc Bergevin got him from the Vegas Golden Knights for Max Pacioretty a year after the 2017 draft, before Suzuki played his first NHL game.

The Canadian fan born in 1988 will be 37 years old in 2025. If he began to be interested in hockey at 12 years old, he is approaching forty. We are not just talking about one generation, but two, generations Y and Z, born between 1980 and 2000 for the Y, from 2000 for the Z, who have not been spoiled by offensive stars in Montreal .

Reconstruction is finally taking off. And it’s not all about the goalkeeper, without taking anything away from Samuel Montembeault and, more recently, Jakub Dobes.

The fifth pick in 2024, Ivan Demidov, continues to impress in the KHL. Demidov scored another spectacular goal on Monday, a 12^e point in his last 9 games with Saint Petersburg, 32 points in 43 games this season, an achievement for a youngster of barely 19 years old with a top club in Russia.

The baby boomers experienced the numerous conquests of the Stanley Cup in Montreal in the 1970s. Generation passage…