Montreal Canadiens news and notes
- Nick Suzuki appears set to start the Olympics on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand. [TSN]
- Jon Cooper hopes Suzuki can be the setup man for MacKinnon that he has been for Cole Caufield. [RDS]
- Suzuki was too humble to compare himself to Sidney Crosby for an assignment as child, and that’s why the comparison is apt. [Sportsnet]
- It was important for the Laval Rocket players to reassert their home dominance last week and get back to benefiting from the Place Bell atmosphere. [La Presse]
Around the league and elsewhere
- Macklin Celebrini is planning to just focus on his game as he gets placed on Canada’s top line with Connor McDavid. [NHL.com]
- Sidney Crosby will be Canada’s captain. [NHL.com]
- Seeing the Olympic hockey venue in person, Cooper believes all the stories about how it was going to be a disaster were severely overblown. [TSN]
- Auston Matthews has been given the C for Team USA. [NHL.com]
- Charlie McAvoy says he’s only interested in getting the win versus Latvia on Thursday to open the Olympics and not seeking any retribution on Sandis Vilmanis for a hit that, he says, brought back the same pain as when his jaw was broken in Montreal. [The Athletic]
- Gabriel Landeskog is ready to return to play in time for the Olympics, and has been named captain of Team Sweden. [NHL.com]
- Breaking down Team Sweden’s goaltending. [NHL.com]
- Mikael Granlund will captain Team Finland. [NHL.com]
