Player Discussion Cole Caufield: The little man with the big future.

[Lafleurs Guy]

Yeah people assume because he's small and a goal scorer that he must be bad defensively but he's actually pretty decent defensively. He's quite good at creating turnovers with his stick and surprisingly good along the boards.

He’s excellent at stealing pucks and transitioning from defense to offense. He’s not Carbonneau and has size limitations, but he’s not a defensive liability either.

 

[NotProkofievian]

''He's one dimensional'' is my favourite criticism of a player who scores lots and lots of goals. It's literally the point of the game, guys lol. If I had to pick one dimension to be elite at, it would be putting the biscuit in the basket.

 

[417]

Most fun hab to watch since PK...

And he's allowed to be himself!

 

[Gabriel Sagala]

He's an excellent passer

He's like one of only four guys (Suzuki, Slafkovsky and Drouin) who can actually reach someone else lol

But someone need to score

Dach too !

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Dach too !

CC hasn’t had an assist since late November. And I’m sure some will look at it and conclude he can’t pass. The reality is though that since Monahan went down, this team can’t buy a goal.

He can pass just fine. Our team can’t convert. Suzuki’s dropped off the map. CC is the only guy who can score. I can’t imagine how bad it would be without him. He’s scored about 30 percent of our goals since December 5th. That’s how bad this team is right now.

 

[Gabriel Sagala]

CC hasn’t had an assist since late November. And I’m sure some will look at it and conclude he can’t pass. The reality is though that since Monahan went down, this team can’t buy a goal.

He can pass just fine. Our team can’t convert. Suzuki’s dropped off the map. CC is the only guy who can score. I can’t imagine how bad it would be without him. He’s scored about 30 percent of our goals since December 5th. That’s how bad this team is right now.

he can pass just fine but he is better at scoring and that's ok too , some one has to and he his the one

 

[tooji]

Can’t wait to see this kid with a competitive team around him. 49 goal pace on this dumpster fire is whack

 

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Yeah people assume because he's small and a goal scorer that he must be bad defensively but he's actually pretty decent defensively. He's quite good at creating turnovers with his stick and surprisingly good along the boards.

Actually CC is useless on the boards.
Most times he loses his board battles or just plain goes into the bords relunctantly.

 

[SlafySZN]

Actually CC is useless on the boards.
Most times he loses his board battles or just plain goes into the bords relunctantly.

Not true, and more often than not he is the reason why they keep the puck in the offensive zone longer.

Never been reluctant to go near the boards.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Caufield has 47 goals and 69 pts in 79 MSL-coached games.

 

[MilesNewton]

I wonder how long opposing teams are going to let him shoot from the exact same spot every game?
The shot must be amazing, but you would think the defenders would be on him? No matter what its fun to watch.

 

[1909]

Caufield has 47 goals and 69 pts in 79 MSL-coached games.

Too bad MSL's team doesn't have the same ratio of success !

I wonder how long opposing teams are going to let him shoot from the exact same spot every game?
The shot must be amazing, but you would think the defenders would be on him? No matter what its fun to watch.

Talk to Ovechkin !

 

[Redux91]

I wonder how long opposing teams are going to let him shoot from the exact same spot every game?
The shot must be amazing, but you would think the defenders would be on him? No matter what its fun to watch.

"Let him shoot"?
It's a powerplay dude lol, the other team is literally missing an entire player on the ice.. there's only so much space you can cover when you are at a numerical disadvantage
If one guy gets stapled to CC, then it's 4 on 3 for the other guys, you send 2 guys on CC and it's 4 vs 2 ..

 

[SlafySZN]

I wonder how long opposing teams are going to let him shoot from the exact same spot every game?
The shot must be amazing, but you would think the defenders would be on him? No matter what its fun to watch.

He scores in many ways at even strength, once the PP will be better he'll score different ways on it too.

 

[LesHabitants]

''He's one dimensional'' is my favourite criticism of a player who scores lots and lots of goals. It's literally the point of the game, guys lol. If I had to pick one dimension to be elite at, it would be putting the biscuit in the basket.

Mmmmm... Biscuits.

I wonder how long opposing teams are going to let him shoot from the exact same spot every game?
The shot must be amazing, but you would think the defenders would be on him? No matter what its fun to watch.

I think part of his skill is finding ways to get open. Maybe size helps.

 

[Skip Bayless]

The habs having a shooting threat like Suz as the bumper helps opening up the express way to CC. For whatever reason, the preds were really aggressive on Drouin last night and it opened up that pass multiple times with Suzuki just dragging a D with him by sitting lower at the bumper.

One other thing, Dach is the one who should be assigned to enter the zone with the drop pass from hell. He's very hard to knock off the puck and teams know this, they wont be as aggressive on him.

Suzuki was doing okay at the beginning of the season, but he's getting rid of the puck more often than not nowadays, he's avoiding contact. I think he's been injured the past couple of months.

 

[Habs13]

In a sea of sludge, Caufield is the one brightspot

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

"Let him shoot"?
It's a powerplay dude lol, the other team is literally missing an entire player on the ice.. there's only so much space you can cover when you are at a numerical disadvantage
If one guy gets stapled to CC, then it's 4 on 3 for the other guys, you send 2 guys on CC and it's 4 vs 2 ..

Yep, people keep saying this about Ovechkin and it doesn't make sense.

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Paddy17]

On the PP?

Better option at even strength?

Cole has 40 of his 50 career goals at even strength. 60 of his 80 career points are even strength.

What you said doesn’t make any sense.

And by the way he is not ‘’uni-dimensional to an extreme’’ he’s a 21 years old player in his 2nd year.

Some people just stick with stereotypes and ignore facts. They watch and see what they want to see. Caufield is far from a Bergeron defensively, but he's far from being a defensive liability. When he has the puck, he'll make the smart play 90% of the time and doesn't make risky turnovers.

What I've seen from him this year is that he is now driving play on his line. I'd go as far as say that Suzuki and Dach are benefitting more from playing with Caufield than him benefitting from them. Good thing is that they're all helping each other as a line, so no need to argue about that...

 

[Paddy17]

Can’t wait to see this kid with a competitive team around him. 49 goal pace on this dumpster fire is whack

Can you just imagine what numbers he would be putting up playing with McDavid... or with a guy like Backstrom back in the days.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Pacing for 48 goals now. Could've had a couple more tonight. The opening play he made to start the game was sick and would've been on highlight reels had he beaten Sheterskin. Nice to see him get the game winner.

 

[Scriptor]

First 40-goal season for a Hab since Damphousse, on a poor team, and showing every sign that this is business-as-usual and not a flash in the pan.......and some fans are still chirping this guy?

This isn't rugby league, where you basically field 13 virtually identical athletes who can all run, tackle and play with positional soundness. CC's job is to be the trigger man who just finds ways to get open and put the put the puck in the net.

What more do (some) people want from him? Doesn't he grind enough?

Loved the game winner against the Rags because Caufield was three feet from the opposing G, not somewhere along the boards, to score that crucial goal.

 

[Scriptor]

We watched different games. Harris was very good and the numbers back it up.

Everyone's favorite Jackeye last night: CF% 24% (worst on team) FF% 30% (worst on team) xGF% 30% (4th worst)

Harris CF% 70% best on team FF% 66% 2nd beset, xGF% 72% best on team

Yeah, you watch stats. The eye test says, Harris was good in certain aspects of the game (O-zone, shorthanded), but couldn't win a battle for a puck in his ow zone and that lead to us getting bogged down trying to survive with unending pressure from the opponent.

If you have to be right on all counts and can't at least admit that, there is no conversation.

I never said Harris had a shitty game, I said he sucked at winning battles for pucks in his zone and that wasn't very good as the team kept getting hemmed in when the Harris pairing was on the ice.

That is what it is. Hopefully, Harris gets stronger during the offseason and his game becomes solid across the board.

Can you just imagine what numbers he would be putting up playing with McDavid... or with a guy like Backstrom back in the days.

I don't know about that. Would be curious to see, but don't think he would be better than playing with Suzuki as there is real chemistry there. It's being on a team that os deeper with skilled offense rather than a one-line team that would help Caufield be even more amazing!

 

[Habs Halifax]

Actually CC is useless on the boards.
Most times he loses his board battles or just plain goes into the bords relunctantly.

Caufield is a very good smaller type player and it's OK to talk flaws. He's not going to turn the needle in puck battles along the walls but he does his best considering the context into what kind of player he is. He's stealth when the other team makes a mistake around him and he's always ready to capitalize on it.

Loved the game winner against the Rags because Caufield was three feet from the opposing G, not somewhere along the boards, to score that crucial goal.

You see the other team like skate away with frustration... how does this little one keep burning us?