When both Nick Suzuki and Cale Fleury made the Montreal Canadiens’ roster out of training camp, the expectations were quite high, and for good reason. Both had played like veterans all training camp long, and had more than earned their spots going into the regular season. However, when the games started counting, they had their hiccups and mistakes, enough so that Claude Julien took action to help mitigate any negative impact.
Suzuki dropped down from the second line to the fourth on multiple occasions, and Fleury ended up being a healthy scratch in four straight games before playing against the Minnesota Wild.