The Montreal Canadiens are having a great start to the season and Cole Caufield and Ivan Demidov are playing significant roles for Martin St-Louis' team.
In the Montreal Canadiens’ match against the Utah Mammoth on Saturday night, rookie Ivan Demidov and sniper Cole Caufield both got on the scoresheet and achieved impressive feats.
By getting an assist on Oliver Kapanen’s goal, the Russian wonderkid notched the 10th assist in his career, becoming the third fastest player to reach that mark, equaling Lane Hutson in that department, since he also got his 10th assist in his 17th game. Only two players reached that point faster than the pair Stephane Richer in 1984-85 and 1985-86 and Fern Majeau in 1943-44.
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While Majeau played only 56 NHL games in his career, he recorded 46 points. As for Richer, he became quite a player, skating in 1,054 games and picking up 819 points, including 421 goals. Even though it’s very early in Demidov’s career, it’s safe to say that he’ll likely have a job closer to Richer’s than Majeau’s.
As for the Habs’ clutch scorer, Caufield became the first Canadiens player to record five multi-goal games in the first 15 games of the season since Guy Lafleur in 1977. The American is now first in the league in goals, tied with Nathan MacKinnon, with 12 lamplighters each.
More impressive than the number of goals scored, however, is the fact that Caufield is reaching such heights while taking care of the other aspects of his game. He doesn’t sacrifice the defensive side of the game to pick up more points. He makes the right read and does what the game expects of him, which often results in him creating opportunities for himself rather than having to wait to be fed by a playmaker.
Since Martin St-Louis’ arrival, the diminutive winger’s growth (no pun intended) has been nothing short (again) of extraordinary. While people wondered if it was wise to hire an inexperienced coach to handle one of the most stressful jobs in the league, they can now wonder if Caufield would have become such a threat on the ice if his path had never crossed St-Louis’.
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