As Jeremy Lauzon crashed into Winnipeg Jets forward Rasmus Kupari midway through the third period of Wednesday’s contest, Nashville Predators history was made.
Lauzon’s fourth hit of the evening gave the defenseman 319 on the season, enough to pass Tanner Jeannot for sole possession of the franchise’s single-season record.
Of course, being the one-man wrecking crew that he is, Lauzon added three more before the night was out, just for good measure.
“I think I was just trying to lock in,” Lauzon said after practice on Thursday. “I know what the record is for the NHL, and that’s more of my goal, trying to beat that. But I’m not chasing hits, they just come to me and I just try to play physical and be a hard player to play against.”
The hits have indeed come for No. 3 this season.
The defenseman not only leads the Predators in checks - fellow heavyweight Cole Smith trails by a whopping 119 - but the entire National Hockey League as well. His closest competition there is Philadelphia Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway, who’s amassed 58 fewer.
For those who may not know, that’s good. It’s very good.
“The fact that he can have like seven hits a game and not feel tired is insane,” defensive partner Alexandre Carrier said. “Like I go for one hit and I'm gassed for another shift. So yeah, it's just really impressive.”
Out of Lauzon’s 322 hits this season, Carrier said he’s personally witnessed maybe a third of them. That’s not to say he can’t tell when a crushing Lauzon hit has been delivered.
“It gives us a lot of energy and momentum,” Carrier said. “And then I think it creates space for us on the ice, you know, the smaller guys like me. When the guys on the other team know that there’s big bear No. 3 coming in, it just makes life easier for everybody.”
It’s made life easier for Lauzon, too.
With 13 points and six goals recorded during the 2023-24 campaign, Lauzon has already put up some of the best offensive numbers of his career; he attributed the productivity to his amplified physical play.
“Every game I just feel way better when I can be physical out there,” Lauzon said. “And each hit brings energy to the team, but to myself too. I feel more involved in the game and my play just gets better and better every single time I'm more physical… I think just being hard to play against has just created a little bit of an identity in the League. Guys don’t like playing against me and when they don’t like playing against me they think twice about coming down on me. So, I think it creates more space for me, more space for my teammates and I can play in the offensive zone a little bit more.”
Lauzon returns to the ice on Saturday to continue chipping away at the NHL’s single-season hits record - that’s 382, by the way - against the same franchise he helped kickstart two seasons ago.
“It was a good experience for me, being a part of that expansion,” Lauzon said. “It was a cool experience, a great organization that treated me really well. And I liked my time here, but obviously, I was super excited to get traded to Nashville.”
Lauzon’s teammates were happy to get him, too. After all, life on the ice is much simpler when No. 3 doesn’t have you locked in his sights.
“I’m really glad about that,” Carrier laughed. “And we’re just really happy for him. Obviously, that was the franchise record, but I think he wants the League record.”
Catch Lauzon and the rest of the Predators group on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio when the puck drops at 9 p.m. CT on Saturday.
