Thing is, many think he should have (he certainly was top 10 on many lists).If he has 75% chance of being a 30 goal scorer in the NHL, he would’ve gone top 5
F Cole Caufield - Univ. of Wisconsin, NCAA (2019, 15th, MTL) Part 2
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tealhockey
@overtheboards
People always say this, I find it kind of bizarre or like when someone says a player can grow more or whatever. If a guy wasn't committed defensively at the lower levels do we have to give him benefit of the doubt that he will once he gets to the higher levels? Not that I think Cole is a joke on the opposite side of the puck or anything like that. There are guys who get a wake-up call at the top levels but I don't know how often it really happens that a guy becomes honest late in his career (by pro hockey a guy has been playing competitive hockey for quite a while). Anyway I basically agree with the rest of your post.
As for the post about percentages, I think it's like 25% chance of being 35+ goal scorer, at the moment I am 50/50 on whether he will consistently score 25-30 goals after breaking in
schnapshot
Mendoza baby
Kudo Shinichi
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"Caufield has participated in 38% of his team’s goal"
Catching The Torch: Cole Caufield does his best Ilya Kovalchuk impersonation
Brownies
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I always felt like there were natural roles in a team and that players kind of naturally fell into them. If you are talented enough to be on the first line, you feel a need to produce and will naturally take a bit more chances to get that first point on the score board. When you are on the third line and points aren't coming that often, you have a tendency to take extra care of your D assignments and feel valued for little things like killing a power-play and such.
I know for sure that (although it has changed recently) the Quebec Junior Hockey League had an history of being a league with a major focus on Offense. A guy like Guy Carbonneau is know as one of the best defensive forward the league has seen and he scored 182 points in his last year in the Q. You go from a league where you are the best player on your team to a league where there's a lot of players as talented as you are, you have to change your game a bit unless you are Wayne Gretzky.
tealhockey
@overtheboards
Yeah I get what you are saying, though I wonder if Carbonneau is a good example considering he is one of the greats, but sure when you go up your game needs adjustment. I was just challenging the idea that some people say so-and-so is not good defensively, then they say, oh yes, that can be changed when they go up the ranks (where players are better offensively and harder to defend). Even if they were to improve marginally, the players they are defending have improved by a similar or even greater margin due to the level of play, you know? I don't know how realistic it is that someone becomes a massively better player in his own end if he's already being criticized for cherry-picking or the equivalent at the low levels. Though I'm sure there are guys who are desperate to win and say, yeah I guess I'm not good enough to just be a top level scorer and I need to radically change how I approach the game if I want to be one of the best
If he can't score at the NHL level he will be a bust, simple as that. Not even worth thinking about converting him to a shutdown forward.
Well ya... But so far there is no reason to think his NHL shot won't convert to the NHL.
Scuba-Steve
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tealhockey
@overtheboards
I think his ability to put away pucks is the only thing we know 100% would convert to the NHL. It's just, like, how many/how often, what kind of situations can he play
For sure! I think he becomes a Cammalleri kind of guy
VasilyHoglander
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But Debrincat can wheel, I’m not seeing the same skating ability from him. Plus he’s not gonna have Kane feeding him.
VasilyHoglander
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He clearly wasn’t on a lot of teams top 10. As soon as we drafted Podkolzin. Teams started trading picks to move back and the ones that moved up weren’t there to draft him. I mean he didn’t get drafted until mid first round lots of chances for teams to move up and acquire him.
You mean one team. Philly traded back with Arizona, that was it. They both drafted d-men as well. He also could've been in their top -10, but the guys they drafted they just ranked higher.
That's how the draft works sometimes. You can have a guy that every team thinks is top-10, but if he's in the lower end of their top-10 and a guy they have ranked higher is there, they're obviously going to pick that guy.
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Whether he is currently a top 10 pick or not doesnt matter much. At 15th he is a great pick although he is a high risk high reward player since he doesnt offer much beside of his shot and offensive IQ.
IDK id it will transfer well in the NHL but id rather shoot for the moon and have a possible 1st liner instead of going with a safe 3-4th liner player which are dime a dozen
IDK id it will transfer well in the NHL but id rather shoot for the moon and have a possible 1st liner instead of going with a safe 3-4th liner player which are dime a dozen
Teams drafting ahead of MTL mostly took defensemen or a goalie (Knight). Many are saying Broberg is gonna bust but we have to wait and see. Aside from him only York is a questionnable pick and the jury is still out. Boldy at 12 I thought was a great pick even though he is having an average season right now, he can always rebound. Soderstrom seems poised to be a solid D. Podkolzin, Zegras, Cozens are obviously ahead of Caufield. Knight is a great goalie.
I think Caufield could have gone either at 12 (Boldy) or 14 (York). The future will tell us if he ends up better than some of the players picked ahead. There is no reason why Montreal cannot get a solid goal scorer at 15. Pastrnak lasted until 25th and he isnt 5'7...
I think Caufield could have gone either at 12 (Boldy) or 14 (York). The future will tell us if he ends up better than some of the players picked ahead. There is no reason why Montreal cannot get a solid goal scorer at 15. Pastrnak lasted until 25th and he isnt 5'7...
FrankMTL
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I think that it's nuts to already have a firm opinion on what this guy will be or won't be at this point in time. Players don't all progress at the same pace or at the same time. Caufield is a project, everybody knows that. He wasn't drafted 15th overall because he is a finished product and ready to go. There will always be some risk with this type of player, but the reward can be huge too. Unless he progresses like crazy over the next 6 months, Caufield absolutely needs another year in the NCAA or a full year in the AHL to refine his game. He's done a lot of positive this year (obviously just looking at the fact he's leading most rookie categories in the NCAA) but he also has some holes in his game that need to be fixed for him to continue to grow as a player.
I would prefer him spending a year in the AHL with Joel Bouchard as i'm really not a fan of what Granato has done with Wisconsin. I think just being around professional athletes will absolutely help him develop his game further. Some of the plays he makes (or doesn't make) in the NCAA won't be tolerated in the AHL I'm very confident Caufield will do whatever it takes to be an NHLer including fixing the holes in his game.
The talent to be an extremely good NHLer is absolutely there, but there needs to be some adjustments in his game. This is what makes Caufield such an intriguing prospect.
I would prefer him spending a year in the AHL with Joel Bouchard as i'm really not a fan of what Granato has done with Wisconsin. I think just being around professional athletes will absolutely help him develop his game further. Some of the plays he makes (or doesn't make) in the NCAA won't be tolerated in the AHL I'm very confident Caufield will do whatever it takes to be an NHLer including fixing the holes in his game.
The talent to be an extremely good NHLer is absolutely there, but there needs to be some adjustments in his game. This is what makes Caufield such an intriguing prospect.
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Brownies
Registered User
Exactly, just look at how many « more NHL ready » prospects have issues every year and you see how underrated the development of the player after the draft is. There’s a role for the team for that, but how much the guy is actually willing to improve is also very important and very hard if not impossible to predict.
In Caufield, you have a small goal scoring machine who’s speed for now is average. You can twist the way his future will look like afterwards any ways you want.
I have been very hesitant these last two years on a smaller player of average speed in Suzuki who has impressed us a lot this year, so I’ll stay clear of easy conclusions. (though is speed is actually kinda good now)
It's generally tough to get top-flight American kids to leave the NCAA without the guarantee of NHL time, at least to start. Sometimes they struggle off the bat like Kyle Connor and go down. But, usually, if it is between AHL and going back to their school for their sophomore year they go back. They also generally try to get the burn year like Boeser and Q. Hughes got in Van. The thing is though, if Caufield signs at the end of this season, he would be only in his 19 year old year, which means if he plays less than 9 NHL games this year he won't burn a year off the ELC. But, more importantly for him, if he's in the AHL all of next year, his ELC will slide again. His "advisor" will likely tell him to go back to Wisconsin, play that season out, sign with you guys after next NCAA season (where if he plays a single game he burns a year), and then hope that extra year has got him ready for the NHL for 2021/22, and then hit RFA status at the end of 22/23. Unless he has problems with how his time at Wisconsin is going, I'd be surprised to see him leave for anything less than an NHL promise to at least start next year similar to Kyle Connor's situation.
There is a big chance that Caufield's season with Wisconsin ends on March 8. There would be more than 9 games left at that time but I doubt he plays all of them thought. I'd rather see him play in the AHL; Laval would have more than 10 games left too. Would he burn a year off his contract if he plays 10 games in the AHL?
No, they need to be NHL games to activate the ELC since he's only in his 19th year when he'd sign.
He might get an ATO. I think it's too early, myself. I think he's a good skater, just not that fast. Good edges and imagination, though. A couple more years and his man muscles will kick in, hopefully, giving him an extra burst.
The guy has proven this year that he can score consistently at a higher level of hockey. It's not exactly a newsflash that many scorers don't pay attention to the other end of the ice. He can work on two way play, but MTL drafted him for his sniping ability, not to be the next Bob Gainey.
The guy has proven this year that he can score consistently at a higher level of hockey. It's not exactly a newsflash that many scorers don't pay attention to the other end of the ice. He can work on two way play, but MTL drafted him for his sniping ability, not to be the next Bob Gainey.
Yeah, those "average" skater are really overblown. He's a good skater with excellent technique and good edges. But, for a 5''7 you usually want a great to elite skater...
I would really like him to be in the AHL next year for his development, but I'm afraid the management would be tempted to bring him up...
Signing a 19 year old for the purpose of going to the AHL doesn't make much sense and could end up hurting the kid's development.
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