WINNIPEG — Montreal will take the ice outdoors Sunday without its captain. Nick Suzuki is expected to miss two to four weeks with an upper-body injury, leaving the Canadiens to patch their top line and spread the offense around for the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic.
- Suzuki was injured in Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks. The 27-year-old will miss just the second game of his NHL career after his consecutive-games run from the start of his career ended at 546.
- Montreal’s captain leads the club with 12 points, including five goals and seven assists, through nine games.
- Oliver Kapanen is projected to center Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky again. Kapanen is set for his fourth game after missing the opening seven contests with a lower-body injury and remains without a point.
- Ivan Demidov remains sidelined by a lower-body injury. He has not played since Montreal’s 6-5 overtime defeat in Pittsburgh on Oct. 3.
- Jake Evans enters the outdoor game after posting two goals and an assist in Friday’s 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, his first three points of the season.
- The Canadiens are 5-3-2 and seek their second two-game winning streak of the season.
- Montreal has gone 1-2-1 when scoring first. Against Chicago, it recovered from conceding first, scored three unanswered goals and added an empty-netter.
- The Canadiens held an outdoor practice Saturday, followed by a family skate.
What it means for Sunday in Winnipeg
Montreal faces the Winnipeg Jets at Princess Auto Stadium on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air on TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV and HBO Max.
Kapanen takes the toughest assignment on Montreal’s board: replacing Suzuki between Caufield and Slafkovsky. The 23-year-old posted 22 goals and 37 points over 82 games last season, but he is still working back into the rhythm of the schedule after his early injury absence. He said the line needs adjustment, particularly because he had not previously played with Caufield, but his focus is on playing a reliable two-way game.
Caufield liked what the newly formed unit showed in Chicago, noting that a fresh combination can need time before the chances start turning into production. Slafkovsky’s message was simpler: Montreal cannot change its identity while Suzuki is out. Keep making plays, keep playing the same game, and make Suzuki’s return feel seamless.
Josh Anderson called Suzuki irreplaceable as both captain and leader, but said the response has to come from the group. Montreal started slowly in its first game without Suzuki before finding its footing over the final two periods in Chicago.
Evans supplied the immediate scoring jolt there. He said the three-point night helped his confidence, even if offense is not normally the central expectation in his role. With Suzuki unavailable and Demidov still out, the Canadiens need that kind of contribution from throughout the lineup.
For Slafkovsky, an outdoor win would carry its own weight. The Canadiens want two points every night, but the Heritage Classic is a rare stage — one worth enjoying, and one that gives Montreal a chance to show it can close out a game without its most important forward.
