Cole Caufield: Is this the year?

[The Gr8 Dane]

Yes, as I said Im giving him next years first few weeks to judge him. The injury is still a good excuse. In october 2024 it wont be.

Theres no reasons to lie and act like hes a better player or has a better season this year.

Yeah but habs fans are homers look at the votes for 40 goals +

 

[Tabarouette]

I totally agree with this post , that said its not like i'm worried about caufield.

But scoring is so high right now a 60-70 point player is not even something to gloat about anymore

that's the whole thing, like you can raise doubts and say it's not as good as you'd expect. I want more out of my potential star players and I want that to match the era we're in. Everyone else is having fun while we're stuck here sheltering a pure goalscorer who can't score, it's really easy to just admit he can do a lot better and hope he does.

A subset of people are so starved for this rebuild to work and for us to finally have some talent that they aren't willing to do so, it's like a personal attack to their golden boys and it's just depressing. Settling for mediocrity forever truly drives me nuts and I already know i'm gonna lose my mind when we're back into "drive for 9th" mode and the same subset of people tell me "just make the playoffs and anything can happen, look at the blues!"

 

[rik schau]

Would you rather him score 40 and us be in the playoffs? Its a great time for Caufield to struggle , we are rebuilding , ill start panicking if the team is decent and he isn't pulling his weight.

Being in the playoffs is way more fun and entertaining don't you find?
I'm not much of a type to panic when it comes to things that I have no say in,just making observations and presenting facts.
Paying a person 7.8 mill, you typical want to get what you paid for, in this case, a consistent goal score,sniper is how he was billed.
Similar but different in that the last boat I bought,I had expectations it would float,I would be upset if it did not.

 

[SlafySZN]

Being in the playoffs is way more fun and entertaining don't you find?
I'm not much of a type to panic when it comes to things that I have no say in,just making observations and presenting facts.
Paying a person 7.8 mill, you typical want to get what you paid for, in this case, a consistent goal score,sniper is how he was billed.
Similar but different in that the last boat I bought,I had expectations it would float,I would be upset if it did not.

Said goal scorer got a shoulder surgery, it takes time to recover fully. Shot strength, accuracy. He didn’t get a real off season to train all that.

Some forgot about that it seems.

Plus it’s like they’re telling him to play differently, he’s not positioning himself to shoot, he’s on the forecheck and try to pass the puck most of the time.

 

[BLONG7]

What is MSL gonna say? I suck at my job, I made Cole a worse player?

Come on.

Hes also down on his overall production, not only on goals.

Cool...

 

[Mrb1p]

Cool...

Is that the answer you have when being proven wrong?

 

[BLONG7]

Is that the answer you have when being proven wrong?

LOL................just trying to be polite here..............

You are so wrong, it's not even funny.
Done............go back and read your BS.

 

[Mrb1p]

LOL................just trying to be polite here..............

You are so wrong, it's not even funny.
Done............go back and read your BS.

Is he producign more than he was last year ? Because thats pretty factual.

 

[Hannibal]

He won’t be a first line winger. Put him with Dach.

Find another winger for Suzuki and Slaf.

 

[BLONG7]

Is he producign more than he was last year ? Because thats pretty factual.

That's a few pages ago...............he has MORE points this year than he ever has............
We already discussed how he has not scored as much as we would like

Done.

 

[Mrb1p]

That's a few pages ago...............he has MORE points this year than he ever has............
We already discussed how he has not scored as much as we would like

Done.

He was on pace for more points last year than this year, and on top of it hes scoring a lot less goals.

 

[Tabarouette]

He won’t be a first line winger. Put him with Dach.

Find another winger for Suzuki and Slaf.

since Dach is injured 80 games a year you want Cole to be a healthy scratch? rude!

 

[Rapala]

I think Matheson being unable to feed the right boards on the pp and chosing to shoot himself half the time makes for fewer “free” quality shooting chances and less time/space for Caufield. I don’t remember many times where an opportunity to shoot was created for him instead of him having to dangle for a shooting lane.

Do we know how his pp vs 5v5 shooting percentage compare to his usual average? Can’t wait for Mailloux and Hutson to give the pp qb a go.

The concentrated play on that left side is NOT helping Caufield at all. Sooner or later some dum dum is going to clue in right?
Jesus we must be moving in on an 0 for 30 stretch on the PP and still we try the same shit.
I get it they tried this configuration and had some success and seemingly better zone time.
The thing for me is the zone time has more to do with the talent quotient on the ice not the set-up.
Last night the only player shooting at (and missing) the net was Mike Matheson.
Like how is that even possible with four other players out there who can all fire the puck?

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The concentrated play on that left side is NOT helping Caufield at all. Sooner or later some dum dum is going to clue in right?
Jesus we must be moving in on an 0 for 30 stretch on the PP and still we try the same shit.
I get it they tried this configuration and had some success and seemingly better zone time.
The thing for me is the zone time has more to do with the talent quotient on the ice not the set-up.
Last night the only player shooting at (and missing) the net was Mike Matheson.
Like how is that even possible with four other players out there who can all fire the puck?

Not a fan of where he’s set up on the PP. I’d put him on the point. Give him more room to move.

 

[Rapala]

Not a fan of where he’s set up on the PP. I’d put him on the point. Give him more room to move.

He can Patrol that entire left side as far as I'm concerned. It's Suzuki's placement that has me vexed.
I don't mind that they interchange on that left side periodically but Suzuki needs to GTFO of there far more than he's been doing.

 

[Captain Mountain]

that's the whole thing, like you can raise doubts and say it's not as good as you'd expect. I want more out of my potential star players and I want that to match the era we're in. Everyone else is having fun while we're stuck here sheltering a pure goalscorer who can't score, it's really easy to just admit he can do a lot better and hope he does.

A subset of people are so starved for this rebuild to work and for us to finally have some talent that they aren't willing to do so, it's like a personal attack to their golden boys and it's just depressing. Settling for mediocrity forever truly drives me nuts and I already know i'm gonna lose my mind when we're back into "drive for 9th" mode and the same subset of people tell me "just make the playoffs and anything can happen, look at the blues!"

What exactly do you mean by sheltering? Caufield is playing the toughest minutes he ever has, has gone from a defensive liability to responsible and has a career high in points.

Fans all the time have unreasonable expectations for players and then get upset when players don't meet those expectation. And get upset for fans that didn't have the same expectations.

Is it disappointing that he's sitting on 20 goals? Sure. Is it a cause for concern? Most evidence points to no, but people are allowed to have concerns whatever they're validity.

But weigh the goal scoring against the two-way play, the improved playmaking and the underlying numbers and its not unreasonable to be overall pleased with his season.

And this has NOTHING to do with mediocrity. The merits of Caufield's season and young career stand up against any of his draft cohorts not named Jack Hughes. And there's a difference between trying to make the playoffs where anything can happen and navigating out of a rebuild. But it sounds like you've already decided how this rebuild will progress, so its not really worth even discussing it.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

What exactly do you mean by sheltering? Caufield is playing the toughest minutes he ever has, has gone from a defensive liability to responsible and has a career high in points.

Fans all the time have unreasonable expectations for players and then get upset when players don't meet those expectation. And get upset for fans that didn't have the same expectations.

Is it disappointing that he's sitting on 20 goals? Sure. Is it a cause for concern? Most evidence points to no, but people are allowed to have concerns whatever they're validity.

But weigh the goal scoring against the two-way play, the improved playmaking and the underlying numbers and its not unreasonable to be overall pleased with his season.

And this has NOTHING to do with mediocrity. The merits of Caufield's season and young career stand up against any of his draft cohorts not named Jack Hughes. And there's a difference between trying to make the playoffs where anything can happen and navigating out of a rebuild. But it sounds like you've already decided how this rebuild will progress, so its not really worth even discussing it.

It’s like people are watching games through a fun house mirror. Caufield was amazing on the forecheck last night and caused a few turnovers. He had and created several chances as well.But you get folks talking about how much he sucks.

The goals are a huge disappointment. Totally get that. But people need to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Everything else about his game has improved.

 

[Tabarouette]

What exactly do you mean by sheltering? Caufield is playing the toughest minutes he ever has, has gone from a defensive liability to responsible and has a career high in points.

Fans all the time have unreasonable expectations for players and then get upset when players don't meet those expectation. And get upset for fans that didn't have the same expectations.

Is it disappointing that he's sitting on 20 goals? Sure. Is it a cause for concern? Most evidence points to no, but people are allowed to have concerns whatever they're validity.

But weigh the goal scoring against the two-way play, the improved playmaking and the underlying numbers and its not unreasonable to be overall pleased with his season.

And this has NOTHING to do with mediocrity. The merits of Caufield's season and young career stand up against any of his draft cohorts not named Jack Hughes. And there's a difference between trying to make the playoffs where anything can happen and navigating out of a rebuild. But it sounds like you've already decided how this rebuild will progress, so its not really worth even discussing it.

Hey I like that post a lot except for that last part, I honestly don't know how the rebuild is going. I think it's *probably* going well in some places depending on how things shape out with Slaf and Hutson and etc, and I think that we got unlucky/incompetence bitting us in the ass in other places

watching a team like the Avs (I know, we beat them) picking 3 times in the top 10 and getting 3 undeniable superstars while we've been at it since 2012 and failed with at least two top 3 picks really hurts my spirit, I do admit.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Hey I like that post a lot except for that last part, I honestly don't know how the rebuild is going. I think it's *probably* going well in some places depending on how things shape out with Slaf and Hutson and etc, and I think that we got unlucky/incompetence bitting us in the ass in other places

watching a team like the Avs (I know, we beat them) picking 3 times in the top 10 and getting 3 undeniable superstars while we've been at it since 2012 and failed with at least two top 3 picks really hurts my spirit, I do admit.

Its too early to tell tbh. But Colorado also made the playoffs twice from 2008-2009 to 2016-2017.

And Montreal hasn't been at it since 2012. Not even close. They have 6 playoff appearance since then, two conference finals appearances and a cup finals appearance. You don't just build a winner by hoping you get lucky when you catastrophically screw up a season. It takes time, planning and luck. And Montreal hasn't had that until recently.

Whether it works or not is an open-ended question. Hopefully it does. But at least intentionally getting high picks and prospects and high upside young players has a chance of working (compared to adding a bunch of middle of the line up veterans and hoping Carey Price can will his way to a championship).

 

[GrandmaCookie]

Feel like Caulifield will come back stronger next year and score 35+ goals. He has too much of a lethal shot to be a career-long 20 goal scorer.

 

[OldCraig71]

It's funny how things play out in the NHL. Earlier this season we saw Suzuki look for Caufield over Slafkovski, now it's the other way around. I would even go so far as to say that the emergence of Slaf is the biggest contributor to Suzuki's increase in production. Caufield is not the same fit on that line that he was last season. Nick and Slaf have a grind element to their game and Joshua Roy might be a better fit for them than CC.

 

[Rapala]

It's funny how things play out in the NHL. Earlier this season we saw Suzuki look for Caufield over Slafkovski, now it's the other way around. I would even go so far as to say that the emergence of Slaf is the biggest contributor to Suzuki's increase in production. Caufield is not the same fit on that line that he was last season. Nick and Slaf have a grind element to their game and Joshua Roy might be a better fit for them than CC.

I agree.
I can't read into the future but I think Caufield might find himself deployed in a different role next season.
Particularly if the puck still isn't going in for him.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

It's funny how things play out in the NHL. Earlier this season we saw Suzuki look for Caufield over Slafkovski, now it's the other way around. I would even go so far as to say that the emergence of Slaf is the biggest contributor to Suzuki's increase in production. Caufield is not the same fit on that line that he was last season. Nick and Slaf have a grind element to their game and Joshua Roy might be a better fit for them than CC.

Slaf has been great and definitely helped that line but Suzuki has elevated his one play. In the second half there have been more than a few nights where he’s the only guy to show up. He’s definitely leveled up his play.

As for CC, I’ve always wanted to see him with Dach. I think they’d be great together. Hopefully his scoring prowess returns next year and this is just a blip because before this he’d been so consistent.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

It's funny how things play out in the NHL. Earlier this season we saw Suzuki look for Caufield over Slafkovski, now it's the other way around. I would even go so far as to say that the emergence of Slaf is the biggest contributor to Suzuki's increase in production. Caufield is not the same fit on that line that he was last season. Nick and Slaf have a grind element to their game and Joshua Roy might be a better fit for them than CC.

Caufield clearly hasn’t recovered 100% from the shoulder surgery. His release isn’t as quick, hard, or accurate as it was prior.

The question now to me is whether he can get back to that level. I think Cole’s been to looking to pass more because he’s aware of the issue, and Suzuki has developed a renewed confidence in his shot because they’ve had no choice but to rely on him as a shooter.

The funny thing is whatever the issue is, it’s probably made them all better players as a result.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I agree.
I can't read into the future but I think Caufield might find himself deployed in a different role next season.
Particularly if the puck still isn't going in for him.

If things go well, the top six will be interchangeable. It really all comes down to a healthy Kirby Dach. If he can actually play 82 games, I think we’ll be I really good shape.

Assuming our first rounder plays in the minors next season they’ll just leave Newhook in the top six. They can experiment and mid and match. They could also just leave that first line together and put Dach with Newhook and Roy. I think that would be awesome second line too.