Trick Or Treat, NHL: 'Goal Caufield' Emerges For The Canadiens

We’re watching the Montreal Canadiens' Cole Caufield emerge as an elite NHL scorer before our eyes.

Although the Canadiens are still rebuilding, they have made strides in several areas. Nick Suzuki looks more like a true top-line center. Juraj Slafkovsky is beginning to look like the player the team envisioned when they drafted him first overall in 2022. Cole Hutson and Kaiden Guhle look like the building blocks of a very good blueline.

The arrival of Cole Caufield’s elite goal-scoring touch may be the most impressive of them all, though.

If there was one thing that draft analysts and scouts were sure of during the 2019 NHL draft cycle, it was that Cole Caufield could absolutely rip the puck.

Referred to as 'Goal Caufield' during his time at the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, the young sniper set the all-time and single-season goal-scoring record at the NTDP. Although Cole Eiserman broke the career goal mark last year, Caufield still holds the single-season record with 72.

Although his shot was as lethal as we’ve ever seen come through the draft, his emergence as an elite goal-scorer at the pro level wasn’t immediate. It wasn’t even immediate when he went to the University of Wisconsin. Caufield had to round out his game and work on everything else – the parts of the game he’s never had to rely on because of how good his shot was.

In university, his biggest area of development was his skating. He was always shifty and showed some agility, but the top speed and acceleration were sometimes issues. When he built his skating up to a level where he was not only quicker but truly faster than many of his opponents, he began to show just how effective he could be.

When he got to the NHL in 2021, he joined a Canadiens team that went on a deep run to the Stanley Cup final. Caufield's impressive playoff performance was a big reason, with four goals and 12 points in 20 games. The kid hit the ground running and provided an offensive spark the team sorely needed.

The next season, his NHL rookie year, was a dreadful season for the Habs as they finished at the bottom of the standings. Although he looked quite good at times, his 23 goals were nowhere near what many expected from him. His sophomore campaign was shortened by injury, but the goal-scoring pace improved, and he looked like a threat to challenge 40 goals over a full season.

His third NHL season was his best to date, though – and he saw a step back as a goal-scorer. He put up just two extra goals, going from 26 to 28, in 36 more games, but it was once again the rounding out his game that made the difference. Caufield developed his playmaking to a level he hadn’t seen in his young hockey career.

Caufield finished the season with more assists than goals for the first time since the 2015-16 season when he was 14 years old. His 28-goal, 37-assist campaign saw him finish second in team scoring behind Suzuki, and most of all, it showed that the 5-foot-8 sniper wasn’t wholly reliant on his shooting talent.

This season, we’ve seen Caufield step back into the limelight as one of the premier goal-scorers in the world. His shot looks as good as it did against USHL and NCAA competition in his draft year with the NTDP. He’s picking corners from along the goal line and beating goalies clean in transition. His shot explodes off his stick as it always has, but now, he’s more versatile.

If defenders close on him in the offensive zone to take away his shot, Caufield can pass his way out of problems. He’ll find Suzuki, Slafkovsky or Hutson with a slick pass.

If goalies come out too much as he bears down on them on a 2-on-1, he isn’t keeping the puck. Instead, he’ll sell that he’s shooting and feed it across for an open-cage scoring chance. When defenders try to step up in transition and cut down the gap, Caufield’s speed can become a factor, blowing by the defender with a quick move and leaving them scrambling to recover.

With all of those factors now in the equation, Caufield’s shot has once again found space to shine. If that same defender leaves a bit of a gap to deal with his speed or they try to play the 2-on-1 for the pass, Caufield's shot is still lethal enough to beat a goalie before they even have the chance to react.

Having to think about whether a lethal shooter will pass or burst by a defenseman forces a goalie to hesitate just a little bit. As we’ve seen in hockey for decades, you often let a goal in when you hesitate as a goalie.

There’s a reason that Caufield is tied for second in the NHL's goal-scoring race with nine goals through 10 games. His pace will surely slow down unless he really does score 74 goals, but if he challenges 50, he will instantly become one of the NHL's truly elite scorers.

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