A Key Pius Of The Canucks’ Puzzle

In a lineup full of established goal-scorers such as Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson, it’s Swiss Army Knife forward Pius Suter who is currently tied for second on the Vancouver Canucks in tucks this season with 11. He’s accomplishing all of this while sliding up, down, and from wing to centre within the lineup.

Suter joined the Chicago Blackhawks in 2020 after not being drafted. He put up 14 goals and 13 assists for a 27-point rookie campaign, tying him with Nils Höglander for sixth in rookie scoring that year. While Suter is a consistent 14 or 15-goal scorer, his most productive point-producing season was when he put up 36 points in 2021–22 with the Detroit Red Wings. He looks on pace to break that record, as he already has 11 goals in 28 games played.

“Obviously you want to get over that and score more goals, but I just missed a couple of games from a couple of seasons. So I probably would have already broken that 15 at other times.”

Suter added that while he wouldn’t call the 15-goal mark “a hump” to get over, he’s looking forward to breaking that threshold. “You’ve got certain goals you want to score on, and I’m feeling much better shooting the puck this year. So you hope that the work pays off.”

While it may appear simple, there are a few moving parts to Suter’s consistency. As someone who has played both at centre and on the wing at various points in his career, he has recognized some of the changes he needs to make to his game depending on where in the lineup he is playing.

“It’s just small things. Just win your battles,” he said. “At the end, it’s just mindset-wise. It’s not that much different, because you’ve just gotta skate and win your battles.”

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Suter also went into some of the smaller nuances, such as “moving around more” as a centre, or taking on “more responsibility if you’re F3.” He noted that he also has to adjust to “different positions” in the D-zone when playing as a centre compared to a forward.

The shifts in the lineup have been the result of a few things, not just from this season, but from the last as well. In the 2023–24 season he played with a total of 10 different linemates ranging from Pettersson to Ilya Mikheyev. This season, he’s already up to six. Building chemistry with teammates can be difficult when you’re moving around the lineup so often.

“We just talk about small things,” Suter explained how he makes things work with a variety of linemates. “You’ve seen the guys play a lot of times when they practice together. It’s already been a few months, so you know how they play.”

Suter also joked that players aren’t going “alright, now we go for dinner,” after discussing how they want their line to work. However, Vancouver dinners were a point that Suter touched on in terms of helping himself de-stress outside of the rink. He even referred to the local food scene as “elite.”

“There are so many good restaurants here,” he expressed. “I think that’s probably the main thing, just because there are so many good options here.”

It has been a solid couple of seasons with Suter as a member of the Canucks. While his current contract comes to an end after this season, it certainly wouldn’t be a disappointment to see him back in blue and green sporting a new career-high record in goals.