Jeff Gorton speaks about Suzuki and compares him to Bergeron

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Jeff Drouin
March 22, 2022 (9:13 PM)

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Since their arrival with the Habs, Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton have changed the mentality of the organization somewhat.

The hiring of Chantal Machabée as vice-president of communications and Martin St-Louis as head coach are perfect examples.

On Tuesday afternoon, the day after the trade deadline, Hughes and Gorton took to the Twitch platform to talk to Canadiens fans.

And we can say that the general manager was very complimentary of Nick Suzuki.

"I'm a big supporter of Nick Suzuki as a player, an individual and a future point guard. I was Patrice [Bergeron's] agent for almost 22 years and I see a lot of common ground."

"Nick is better than Patrice in some aspects of the game. He's going to continue to learn how to play defensively to reach his level in that area. I see Nick Suzuki as a number one centre in the National Hockey League [NHL]."

That's quite a comparison for the 22-year-old forward, who has 18 points in his last 14 games.

As for Jeff Gorton, he said Cole Caufield was the biggest surprise to him since he's been with the team.

"When I first got here, I heard he was a good player, maybe a quality second-three forward. Every game we find he gets better. It would be great for us if he could take his game up another notch."

The two hockey men also commented on the possible arrival of defensive prospect Jordan Harris. They argued that he couldn't negotiate with his l'agent yet because of the rules set forth in the NCAA. Hughes was optimistic about him, however, as he could become a free agent without compensation this summer.

"I've known him for a long time. I've coached him and my son has been playing with him since they were 7 or 8 years old. I hope that familiarity works in our favor."

We have to say, it's nice to see two hockey men using social media to interact with hockey fans. We're already far from the days of Pierre Gauthier and Jacques Martin.