Nick Suzuki isn’t concerned about a player earning $15 to $17 million entering the Montreal Canadiens locker room.
Montreal’s captain discussed the difference between his own salary and what superstars currently earn around the league in a French-language interview this week.
“That’s what happens when you sign a long-term agreement,” Suzuki remarked. “It’s been five years. Times have changed.”
“Guys in this chamber simply want to win,” Suzuki stated. “To get here, certain players accepted less money. That has an impact.”
Closing the thought without regretting it, he said, “And we still earn enough to be set for life.”
Suzuki is presently on Montreal’s books with a $7,875,000 cap hit. After five years, that contract seems like a secondhand car that has miraculously increased in value.
This season, he scored 101 points (29 goals and 72 assists) in 82 games, ending at plus-37 for the Canadiens team that went 48-24-10.
These days, Suzuki’s $7.9 million contract seems like a steal.
That record was good for third in the division and sixth overall in the league. Not bad for a captain who is still paid as though it were 2021.
Despite a rating drop to minus-8 as the run progressed, Suzuki contributed 16 points (four goals and 12 assists) in 19 postseason games.
Montreal’s last documented game was a 1-6 defeat to Carolina on May 29, after a 0-4 loss two nights before.
We must not overlook this. Leon Draisaitl earns $14 million annually. Less than eight hours after joining the C, Suzuki told a reporter that he was okay with it.
Is that a captain guarding a front office that hasn’t had to test him yet, or is that loyalty?
Kent Hughes possesses the financial flexibility necessary to identify the specific type of contract that Suzuki was publicly outlining. The question of whether the room responds as its leader expects is another matter, and it has not yet been addressed in Montreal.
