Habs Daily: Celebrini’s Canadian Tally, Suzuki’s Competitiveness

Here’s all the latest Montreal Canadiens news, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Wednesday.

Habs News

• Top prospect Macklin Celebrini was dominant for Team Canada at the 2024 World Juniors. He recorded a goal and four assists in Canada’s 10-0 win over Latvia. Reminder: Celebrini will be available at the upcoming Draft, though he won’t be available after the first team makes their selection.

Macklin Celebrini 🇨🇦 at the World Juniors:

5 Periods
2 Goals
3 Assists
5 Points

UNREAL.
pic.twitter.com/Voht5kPqKm

— Nathan "Grav" (@NathanGraviteh) December 27, 2023

• Owen Beck was held scoreless in the game, though he had a decent game, overall. A third-period breakaway was not enough to register his name on the scoresheet.
• Montreal Canadiens prospect Filip Mesar registered a primary assist in Slovakia’s 3-0 win over Switzerland. It was a quiet game for Mesar, at least compared to his excellent outing in the first game of the tournament, but his primary assist on the empty-net goal was still nice to see. [Mesar Stars In First GameAt World Juniors]

Filip Mešár and 🇸🇰 top 🇨🇭 3-0 this morning to move to 2-0 at the #WorldJuniors.

Mešár finished with 1A by collecting the puck along the boards and making a great tape to tape pass to setup the ENG.

He was also +1 in 16:40 TOI.#OHLRangers #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/ABSry8Szm9

— East Ave Blue (@KRangersReport) December 27, 2023

• Welcome to the latest edition of the ‘not bad’ meme, featuring Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis.

Sometimes you get lucky & find a funny coach Marty meme face during his press conference 😅 pic.twitter.com/jUcX7FM1Sj

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) December 27, 2023

• Nick Suzuki is excited to play some meaningful hockey after the holiday break. We have to keep in mind he’s a competitive player who doesn’t like losing, therefore the rebuild weighs heavily on his mind.

#Habs captain Nick Suzuki says the team still being in the playoff hunt post-Christmas unlike the past two seasons is a lot better, makes the games more fun and everyone has returned from the holiday break with more energy.

— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) December 27, 2023

National Hockey Now Network

• The Pittsburgh Penguins are officially five points out of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Reading the tea leaves and winning percentages becomes a different matter. The Penguins trail the Tampa Bay Lightning by five with three games in hand, but from there, it gets quite messy. The cutoff date to decide whether they’ll be sellers at the NHL’s trade deadline is quickly approaching. [Pittsburgh Penguins]
• The New Jersey Devils returned to the ice this morning ahead of their third tilt of the season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The first player on the ice for New Jersey was goaltender Nico Daws. Just prior to this practice, the Devils announced they recalled Daws from the AHL Utica Comets. To fill the void left in Utica, the Comets recalled Jeremey Brodeur from the Adirondack Thunder. Is there a goaltender trade in the works? [New Jersey Devils]
• Should the Boston Bruins stand pat on what could be a busier-than-usual NHL trade market in January and leading into the March 8 NHL trade deadline? [Boston Bruins]