F Cole Caufield - USNTDP Juniors, USHL (2019, 15th, MTL)

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RedWingsAllTheWay

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Felt the need to make a thread for this guy. He is one of the best 2001s in America right now and just did amazing this year in both HS and AAA play. He was recently invited to the NTDP camp and is likely to make it. This year he was tied for 1st in the Wisconsin Prep league scoring as a sophomore (second year HS) with 50 goals and 29 assists for 79 points.
EP: http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=316168
Wisconsin Prep: http://www.wisconsinprephockey.net/roster_players/13562158?subseason=323012
 

BKarchitect

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Oct 12, 2017
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Time to bump this - Caufield is still pretty tiny but a scoring dynamo at every level thus far...

- Tied with Jack Hughes for the USNTDP U17 scoring lead with 16 points in 9 games and leads the team with a whopping 13 goals in those 9 games.
-In USHL play with the USNT (which to be fair has been more the U17 roster than U18 at this point), Caufield trails only Hughes with 9 points in 4 games, and again showing a knack for scoring with 7 goals to lead the team. Hughes has 10 points in 4 games. For comparison (tiny sample though), U18 guys in USHL play we have Wahlstrom with 6 points in 2 games and Farabee with 4 points in 2 games.

EP lists him at 5'-6" and 146 pounds. His older brother Brock (Green Bay - USHL) is 18 years-old and listed at 5'-8", 154 pounds. His father, Paul, had a brief pro career after playing DIII at 5'-10", 194 pounds.

From what I can tell, both Brock and Cole used to be verbally committed to Ohio State but it appears that is no longer the case and Cole's recruitment appears to be open again.
 

JiggsNY

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Sep 14, 2016
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Hopefully he can grow a bit more, even though size is becoming less and less of an issue, 5-6 is 3 in shorter than Gaudreau. He's on fire, i hate to see size hold these guys back.
 

93LEAFS

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Nov 7, 2009
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Along with Hughes he has absolutely owned the U-17 challenge. Will be very interesting to follow. Only an inch shorter than Debrincat who looks to be under-drafted, so he could get serious 1st round consideration. Hell, maybe even top 20.
 

BKarchitect

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Older brother Brock committed to Wisconsin late last week and as expected, Cole has now committed to UW as well where he will likely start playing for the Badgers in 2019-20 after he gets drafted.
 

Passchendaele

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Dec 11, 2006
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Just found out about this kid, stats are insane.

18 goals in 21 USHL games and 40 goals in 37 USDP games total.

.. and he's a 2001.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

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Dec 8, 2013
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He destroyed the U-17 challenge with Hughes.

Anyone know how he's doing at U-17 5 Nations right now?

I only watched a few minutes of the first game. USA beat Russia 5-4. I woke up too late to see much of the game, but I think he might be in line for a promotion to the U18 squad.

The one thing I'd worry about with his production is that he's shooting nearly 44%. SH%'s are almost always higher for junior leagues, and considering the U17 NTDP team is so dominant that they often play catch all the way into the net, I think it makes sense that most players on that team would have very high SH%'s, but none of the other top players are anywhere close to 44%. No one is even above 30%.

He's very good though from the games I've watched, and I don't think he's a product of Hughes. This is the last big tournament for this team, so he might get promoted to the U18 squad. If I was the coach, I'd promote Knight, Caufield, Turcotte and Boldy. @Whalers Fan, any thoughts on this topic? Should Caufield be promoted? Which other players do you think should be promoted?
 

Whalers Fan

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He's very good though from the games I've watched, and I don't think he's a product of Hughes. This is the last big tournament for this team, so he might get promoted to the U18 squad. If I was the coach, I'd promote Knight, Caufield, Turcotte and Boldy. @Whalers Fan, any thoughts on this topic? Should Caufield be promoted? Which other players do you think should be promoted?

While under the right circumstances I think Caufield, Turcotte and Boldy could be promoted (I wouldn't promote Knight), in this case I would leave them all with the U17s for a couple of reasons:

  1. The U17s are getting much better coaching than the U18 squad. If you watch the U18s, the forwards do not move the puck nearly as well as the U17s. Even the U18 top line is relying mostly on Hughes skill to bring the puck up the ice solo instead of using crisp passing. And defensively the U18 team has been downright bad under first year coach Seth Appert. I'd rather see these younger players continue to get the quality coaching they've been receiving from John Wroblewski.
  2. Part of the reason to bring up players is to give them additional games to play after the NTDP regular season in the U18 WJC. However, this season it looks like the U17 team may be playing in the USHL playoffs (Team USA is in first place in the Eastern Conference), so I think these players would benefit from getting more ice time with the U17s than fighting for less ice time with the U18s. For the rest of the regular season, both the U18 and U17 teams only play USHL opponents, so there's no regular season benefit of international or NCAA games at this point.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

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While under the right circumstances I think Caufield, Turcotte and Boldy could be promoted (I wouldn't promote Knight), in this case I would leave them all with the U17s for a couple of reasons:

  1. The U17s are getting much better coaching than the U18 squad. If you watch the U18s, the forwards do not move the puck nearly as well as the U17s. Even the U18 top line is relying mostly on Hughes skill to bring the puck up the ice solo instead of using crisp passing. And defensively the U18 team has been downright bad under first year coach Seth Appert. I'd rather see these younger players continue to get the quality coaching they've been receiving from John Wroblewski.
  2. Part of the reason to bring up players is to give them additional games to play after the NTDP regular season in the U18 WJC. However, this season it looks like the U17 team may be playing in the USHL playoffs (Team USA is in first place in the Eastern Conference), so I think these players would benefit from getting more ice time with the U17s than fighting for less ice time with the U18s. For the rest of the regular season, both the U18 and U17 teams only play USHL opponents, so there's no regular season benefit of international or NCAA games at this point.

That's a good point, so maybe just promote them for the WJC-18.

The U18 NTDP squad hasn't been getting goal goaltending, which is why I suggested promoting Knight. He actually has the best SV% in the USHL of the four.
 

Whalers Fan

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That's a good point, so maybe just promote them for the WJC-18.

The U18 NTDP squad hasn't been getting goal goaltending, which is why I suggested promoting Knight. He actually has the best SV% in the USHL of the four.
I think Drew DeRidder has played very well in net for the U18s this year (despite his early exit versus the Czechs the other night). He hasn't been getting support from his defense like Knight and Rowe have with the U17s. The number of breakaways and odd-man rushes he has faced this season borders on the criminal. DeRidder's play has actually kept the U18 team in more games than they deserve, and his numbers are much better than teammate Jonathan Mor's numbers, which helps show how well DeRidder has played despite the poor play in front of him. I wouldn't want to see Knight exposed to that. Also, rushing goalie development is a very risky thing.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

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He reminds me some of Debrincat. He's a pure goal-scorer. Right-shot, as well. He can make some skill plays and pass the puck, but he's looking to score. He's smaller than most players, but he plays a little bigger than his size. I don't think he's a great skater, which is usually the downfall of most smaller skilled players, although his skating isn't bad. Usually though small players have to be excellent skaters to make the NHL.
 

Frannel

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Dec 27, 2017
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He reminds me some of Debrincat. He's a pure goal-scorer. Right-shot, as well. He can make some skill plays and pass the puck, but he's looking to score. He's smaller than most players, but he plays a little bigger than his size. I don't think he's a great skater, which is usually the downfall of most smaller skilled players, although his skating isn't bad. Usually though small players have to be excellent skaters to make the NHL.

I recommend reading this analysis on size bias, position bias and league bias affecting the nhl draft. I found it highly informative...
NHL Draft Analytics: A Study of NHL Central Scouting - Neutral Zone - Men's Hockey

Just to give an example: "There is certainly a size bias in the draft which is slightly reflected in the number of players at different heights listed on central scouting but more importantly in the actual draft results. The smaller players have the highest percentage of undrafted players off central scouting. Also, the majority of players taken at 5’10” and below are taken in the sixth and seventh round (57.9%). Of the only 11 players who were 6’5” or taller listed on Central Scouting, only 1 of them was undrafted opposed to 5’9” skaters where 7 of the 9 players listed were undrafted. [...] The data showed that there are some built in bias by both NHL teams scouting departments as well as NHL Central Scouting; [...] Combining both size and position shows that there is a slight correlation between size and position. Not only is the average height taller for defenders than forwards and that centers tend to be slightly taller then wings. The averages only tell one story, but the fact that there are only 5 defenders drafted or listed at 5’10” or shorter is significant considering there are 11 centers, 18 right wings and 11 left wings. On the opposite end there are 25 defenders listed or drafted at 6’3” or taller oppose to centers at 9, right wings at 5 and left wings at 5."
 
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Daximus

Wow, what a terrific audience.
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In a way it proves your last point: That smaller players have to prove they are excellent while taller players don't. Sorry, if this was confusing...

It's pretty true. A 6'7+ dman is going to get ample opportunity to prove he can make the NHL. A 5'6 winger has much less time to prove they can make it. But I do agree that a 5'6 winger is highly unlikely to make it if they aren't an above average NHL skater. With the amount of time and space that you have in the NHL coupled with the much more physical game it can render them pretty useless quickly if they don't have something that can make them stand out from everyone. Then they just become PP specialists.
 

William H Bonney

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Feb 27, 2002
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It's possible Cole adds some height as his brother (1999 birth year) is 5'9 and their dad was 5'10. Not a guarantee, but hopefully he grows a bit.
 
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