Cole Caufield: Is this the year?

[Trenbohabs]

Marchessault is like an inch taller and won the Conn Smythe like 18 months ago..

He had the run of his life surrounded by an amazing group, but hes still a 60 pts player. I believe Marchessault is ALOT stronger on his stick and puck possession. Caufield is a pure goal scorer and marchessault is a more complete, better all around player. The Conn Smythe belonged to Eichel IMO also, and im from montreal

 

[WeThreeKings]

Jets were very bad defensively, theres a reason they got swept by a very bad team in Montreal. Caufield will never be able to win 1v1 battles, if you played at the junior major league level you would realise how hard it is to fight in corners against guys 40 pounds heavier and 6" taller. You dont win games with snipers, you win games with puck possession time, battles, gaining every inch you can, forechecking, hitting, blocking shots. Theres a reason no past cup champions had a 5'7 unidimentionnal sniper in their top 6. Next time you watch a habs game look carefully how painful it is for caufield to keep the puck while having a guy on his back and thats regular season.

Yesterday instead of blocking the wrister from the point he moved away and deflected it with his stick. Thats unacceptable

Suzuki was amazing in his first playoffs thought.

You can say all you want - he was effective against bigger, heavier teams in the play-offs, most notably the conference and stanley cup finals.

That's the truth. Who cares if he can't win 1v1 battles with physicality if he gets pucks in other situations, turns it into offense and goals. Which is what he did. As a rookie when he was much physically weaker than he is today.

5'8 = bad is not good analysis. He finds a way to score and he did so against the biggest, strongest teams that the NHL had to offer in the hardest time of year to score, in his first taste of NHL action.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

no.


obviously you dont differiencate playoff hockey than regular season hockey. Caufield scored most of his goals short side in the left circle this year, but generated almost no offense other than that. it is WAY harder to score in playoffs. I trade Caufield for a bigger winger that can make 70 pts anyday of the week. Debrincat was a 40 goals scorer but got traded 2 times, because hes almost unidimentionnal.

I don’t care how he scored his goals. I care that he scores at a high rate. Almost all his goals came from in close last year because his shot was so bad from mid ice. Now that shot has returned and he’s scoring at a crazy rate. He's shown he can score from anywhere when healthy.

Goaltending, overall defense, opportunist and luck wins you cups, a lineup of 12 caufield would get destroyed vs 12 matt tkatchuk in playoffs hockey. have a good day

We weren’t discussing defense or goaltending. We were discussing your thoughts that Caufield wasn’t a first liner and started talking him down.

People said Bossy would get destroyed, Kane would get destroyed... Yzerman... we've already seen that Cole can score in the playoffs. Raw rookie and walked right in with no issues. He's been dealing with bigger players his whole life. If he wasn't going to be successful, he'd have failed by now.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He had the run of his life surrounded by an amazing group, but hes still a 60 pts player.

He currently has one assist. However, that doesn't capture his playmaking ability any more than Hutson having one goal is indicative of him being no able to score...

Caufield is likely a consistent 40+ goal guy. It's too early to say this for certain. He's still not quite established yet. But when healthy under MSL, he's already shown he can be among the best goalscorers in the game. And he's not even 25 yet.

I believe Marchessault is ALOT stronger on his stick and puck possession. Caufield is a pure goal scorer and marchessault is a more complete, better all around player. The Conn Smythe belonged to Eichel IMO also, and im from montreal

He didn't have the run of his life at all. If anything he was below where he's been since. But he was good and he did it walking right into the NHL with no games behind him. Raw rookie and he was one of our best forwards.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

So you're putting hall of famers and some of them are monsters physically in the same sentence of a 2nd line sniper at 5'7?

Kane is a superstar, top 5 american player ever, made everybody better, not even close to Caufield.

Again - I was very clear about this - we don't know what Caufield will be. I believe he'll be a premier scorer in this league but he's still somewhat unproven. He's shown he has the ability to do it but doesn't have a full season of results yet. It's a hypothetical at this point as to how good he'll be.

However, assuming he becomes a 50 goal guy, it doesn't matter how big he is. What matters is that he can score. Yes, I gave you HOFer examples - you asked for players who led their teams to cups. Players like that tend to be HOFers. That's how it works, you score, you win games, you win cups.

Once again - I'm not saying he's the next Mike Bossy. I'm not saying he's a sure fire 50 goal guy. I'm saying that he looks like he could be a top goalscorer. I believe he'll be a premier scorer in this league. Consistently 40+ when healthy. And if that proves to be the case, there's every reason to believe he'll be able to do it in the postseason. Most players drop off a little but don't go away completely. And we already have the one run to see that he doesn't shy away from anything.

Scorers get goals in a multitude of ways. Richard was very different from Kane who was very different from Howe who was very different from Bossy... but what matters is that you put the puck in the net. Each player makes his own legacy. No player is exactly the same as any other. CC will forge his own path as others have. He won't be Kane, or Bossy or Lafleur... he'll be Cole Caufield.

 

[Redux91]

like he scored 4 goals, 8 assists with a -5 differential, got pushed around, won 15% of his 1v1 battles, gave the puck over, got hit, yes I remember i analysed every shift he made. Price and the defensive team effort got them there. If montreal had offense that year they couldve had a chance against tampa

Buddy.. you need to stop blurting out some of this shit ..

Like God damn

A rookie helped carry our offense in the playoffs to a Cup Final.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Caufield was a breakaway machine in those playoffs.

People can keep on underestimating him. And he can just keep lighting the lamp for all I care.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Buddy.. you need to stop blurting out some of this shit ..

Like God damn

A rookie helped carry our offense in the playoffs to a Cup Final.

And only played a handful of regular season games before hand.

It’s like people forget his pedigree and the early returns and hyper focus on last season which, as far as disappointing seasons go, was not bad at all. And knowing now it was due to his shoulder like where’s the beef?

I think he can keep growing his game too. Suzuki seems to keep getting better, I bet CC’s got plenty more to show

 

[Mrb1p]

I don't understand how people can look at all the progress Caufield has made to his game and still criticize him as he's scoring a bunch of goals to boot.

Have you watched his play though ? Ya, he's scoring goals and thats nice. The moment his luck runs out, and it will, what is he ? If he scores 50 he can play like that, and even so I'm not sure its a give-give.

I think he can be better, personally. I'm pretty sure he agrees judging by his reaction on the goal he was the reason for last game.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

And only played a handful of regular season games before hand.

It’s like people forget his pedigree and the early returns and hyper focus on last season which, as far as disappointing seasons go, was not bad at all. And knowing now it was due to his shoulder like where’s the beef?

I think he can keep growing his game too. Suzuki seems to keep getting better, I bet CC’s got plenty more to show

An oldie ❤

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Have you watched his play though ?

Have you?

When he's on the ice we consistently outshoot our opponents and the play is in the other team's zone.

Ya, he's scoring goals and thats nice. The moment his luck runs out, and it will, what is he ? If he scores 50 he can play like that, and even so I'm not sure its a give-give.

I think he can be better, personally. I'm pretty sure he agrees judging by his reaction on the goal he was the reason for last game.

Yeah, he can be better. He needs better puck control as he loses it a little too much. But despite being a little guy he has a lot of fight. He goes after pucks, goes into corners... size will always limit what he can do. He'll never be a power forward. But he's a lot better than you give him credit for. He puts up a crap ton of shots and he puts pucks in the net. That's the most important thing a player can do.

Yes, he's somewhat uni-dimensional and always will be. But he's not entirely one dimensional. He's a gutsy little player who's got a lot of jam.

 

[HuGort]

He can't score 40 and be cause of 50 though. Caufield always been negative player. There was a goal scored against other night guy had open net. Caufield chasing the wrong player, left his man wide open. Goes back to players understand the system. Habs need to clean it up defensive

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He can't score 40 and be cause of 50 though. Caufield always been negative player. There was a goal scored against other night guy had open net. Caufield chasing the wrong player, left his man wide open. Goes back to players understand the system. Habs need to clean it up defensive

You can say this for almost any player. "So and so made a brain dead play last night..." Welcome to the fluid game of hockey.

A negative player? No. Bottom line is that when Caufield's on the ice, on average the Montreal Canadiens significantly outplay the opposition. He's significantly better than most of his teammates in this regard and for an offensively starved team, he's a Godsend.

He's currently leading the entire NHL in goals and we STILL have naysayers here. I just don't get why some folks can't be happy with their own players. We had a blue chip HOFer in Carey Price and we still had the odd poster saying we should've kept Halak.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

Have you?

When he's on the ice we consistently outshoot our opponents and the play is in the other team's zone.

He has an on-ice SF% of 42.18% at 5v5. And exactly 50% if you include all situations (which means adding mostly PP time).

So, no, we do not.

 

[Mrb1p]

Have you?

When he's on the ice we consistently outshoot our opponents and the play is in the other team's zone.

Yeah, he can be better. He needs better puck control as he loses it a little too much. But despite being a little guy he has a lot of fight. He goes after pucks, goes into corners... size will always limit what he can do. He'll never be a power forward. But he's a lot better than you give him credit for. He puts up a crap ton of shots and he puts pucks in the net. That's the most important thing a player can do.

Yes, he's somewhat uni-dimensional and always will be. But he's not entirely one dimensional. He's a gutsy little player who's got a lot of jam.

I'm not sure why you keep making up stats like this when its easily verified. No, its not true.

 

[EveryDay]

Are people really criticized Caufield so far this year, the goal scoring leader of the NHL??? Serious?

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Caufield’s doing great. He needs to go back to being a volume shooter though. Hes not going to keep this up. He could get 50 though , I’ve always believed that.

We don’t need to be pretend he’s a play driver and a puck possession beast, he isn’t and won’t ever be, but he doesn’t have to be. Live him for who he is, an elite goal scorer.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

Are people really criticized Caufield so far this year, the goal scoring leader of the NHL??? Serious?

Just because he leads in goals - which is nice, for sure, and we can all enjoy that while it lasts - doesn't mean he's been playing in a way that's good for long term sustainability and success. I know nobody is expecting him to continue shooting 30%+, but that's about twice as much as what we should expect from him. His career sh% is ~12.5% and his best season was ~16.5%. He's always been streaky and sooner or later he's likely go on a streak where he doesn't score that much. He'll need to improve his play elsewhere if he wants to score 40-50.

 

[Mrb1p]

Caufield’s doing great. He needs to go back to being a volume shooter though. Hes not going to keep this up. He could get 50 though , I’ve always believed that.

We don’t need to be pretend he’s a play driver and a puck possession beast, he isn’t and won’t ever be, but he doesn’t have to be. Live him for who he is, an elite goal scorer.

Volume shooting is bad because it creates so many turnover. Its great that Caufield picks his spot more because he already is a pretty bad puck manager.

 

[HabbyGuy]

Are people really criticized Caufield so far this year, the goal scoring leader of the NHL??? Serious?

This board man... It's hard to fathom sometimes.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I'm not sure why you keep making up stats like this when its easily verified. No, its not true.

Career 55 CF%. Among the best players in the league. He has consistently been around this level his whole career.

Just because he leads in goals - which is nice, for sure, and we can all enjoy that while it lasts - doesn't mean he's been playing in a way that's good for long term sustainability and success. I know nobody is expecting him to continue shooting 30%+, but that's about twice as much as what we should expect from him. His career sh% is ~12.5% and his best season was ~16.5%. He's always been streaky and sooner or later he's likely go on a streak where he doesn't score that much. He'll need to improve his play elsewhere if he wants to score 40-50.

From a pure number crunching standpoint, you're right. The whole first line has had numbers that aren't great. His shots are down this year and it's crazy he has the goal totals he does. I don't think anyone things he's going to finish the year with 80 goals.

Volume shooting is bad because it creates so many turnover. Its great that Caufield picks his spot more because he already is a pretty bad puck manager.

Volume shooting is not bad. The last guy we had who had as many shots as CC in a season was Guy Lafleur. I'm pretty sure he was a decent hockey player who knew how to score. If shots were autmatically creating the turnovers you're saying, then they wouldn't have the shot volume they do because the puck would be at the other end of the ice.

Caufield’s doing great. He needs to go back to being a volume shooter though. Hes not going to keep this up. He could get 50 though , I’ve always believed that.

We don’t need to be pretend he’s a play driver and a puck possession beast, he isn’t and won’t ever be, but he doesn’t have to be. Live him for who he is, an elite goal scorer.

????

How is CF% of 55 not a possession beast? Crosby and Ovechkin are best in class at 60.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

Career 55 CF%. Among the best players in the league. He has consistently been around this level his whole career.

Since 2020-21, his all-situation CF%, amongst forwards who have played 2000 minutes or more, his CF% (53.05% without adjustment) ranks 147th, for a total of 381 elligible players.

His 5v5 career CF% is at 47.89% (again, no adjustment, 46.80% with score&venue). His short rookie season was at 53.08% (50.23% adjusted) and his highest to date, all other seasons at or below 48.5%.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Since 2020-21, his all-situation CF%, amongst forwards who have played 2000 minutes or more, his CF% (53.05% without adjustment) ranks 147th, for a total of 381 elligible players.

His 5v5 career CF% is at 47.89% (again, no adjustment, 46.80% with score&venue). His short rookie season was at 53.08% (50.23% adjusted) and his highest to date, all other seasons at or below 48.5%.

Hockey Reference has him at 54.7 for his career. His relative numbers are also awesome but some of that can be attributed to the teams he's been on.

As mentioned, it's not a great start to the season but this is such a short sample it's meaningless. Last week he was at 43 percent after the Rangers game.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Just because he leads in goals - which is nice, for sure, and we can all enjoy that while it lasts - doesn't mean he's been playing in a way that's good for long term sustainability and success. I know nobody is expecting him to continue shooting 30%+, but that's about twice as much as what we should expect from him. His career sh% is ~12.5% and his best season was ~16.5%. He's always been streaky and sooner or later he's likely go on a streak where he doesn't score that much. He'll need to improve his play elsewhere if he wants to score 40-50.

Not really.

From the moment MSL took over up to Caufield's shoulder surgery, Cole had 48 goals in 83 games and was pretty consistent in that sequence. In that sequence, he had a single 5 game drought, his longest, a single 4 game drought, and 3 times where he didn't score in 3 games in a row. 8 times 2 games in a row. 9 times missing out on a single game. He scored in 39 of those 83 games. Very few players in the league will have a single season high of 5 games in a row without a goal. Even fewer can say their second single longest drought is 4 games. This all paints a picture of someone who's not streaky at all.

To better illustrate this and further my point, look at how that 83 games sequence runs down in splices of 10:

6/10
7/10
4/10
7/10
6/10
5/10
6/10
6/10

That sequence is the very definition of consistency. He never drops below 4 and never higher than 7. I should mic drop at this point, but there's something else I want to point out.

He was 17.7% in shooting percentage over those 83 games.

He's been highly consistent when not bugged down from returning from surgery. Now, he seems to have hit another gear, because instead of 7/10's as his max (I also checked any individual sequence of 10 games and he hit 7/10 three times), he now hit a 8 in 10 to end last season (for the first time), and did 9/10 this past month to start the season (for the first time). If you're a betting man, what does that all spell out for the future, if you consider his pre-injury consistency?

 

[Kairi Zaide]

View attachment 925123

Hockey Reference has him at 54.7 for his career. His relative numbers are also awesome but some of that can be attributed to the teams he's been on.

As mentioned, it's not a great start to the season but this is such a short sample it's meaningless. Last week he was at 43 percent after the Rangers game.

I use EH and the methodology can vary between sources, hence why I mentioned the numbers I had.

But you're - again - looking at All situations. Which heavily favours PP1 players that don't get PK duty. That's why you need to look where it ranks league-wide.

His RelTM (relative-to-teammates, which is more telling than relative-to-team) numbers aren't bad (like, they're positive), but they're not "awesome" either.