The Montreal Canadiens have been starved for offense for decades since the good old days, but now there's a new sniper in town, and one can wonder if the sky's the limit for Cole Caufield.
With his pair of lamplighters on Saturday night, Montreal Canadiens’ sniper Cole Caufield now has 35 goals on the season, just two away from his career-best with 23 games still left to be played. That’s a 49-goal pace on an 82-game season.
The Habs haven’t had a 40-goal scorer since Vincent Damphousse put up 40 back in 1993-94. To find a 50-goal scorer, you must go back to Stephane Richer, who last did it in 1989-90, putting up 51 goals.
Can Cole Caufield join Damphousse in the history books or even Richer? The last time a player came close to touching the 40-goal mark, it was Max Pacioretty when he hit 39 in 2013-14 and 37 in 2014-15.
The all-time season goal-scoring record for the Canadiens is shared by Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt, who each scored 60 goals, the former in 1977-78 and the latter in 1976-77. That’s one mark Caufield certainly won’t reach this season, but the 40-goal plateau almost seems like a certainty at this point. As for the 50-goal mark, there is a chance, but the sniper would need to go on an absolute tear.
Last season, after his 4 Nations Face-Off snub, there were 26 games left to the regular season, and he added 11 goals to his total, for a 0.42 goal-per-game pace. Should he have the same pace this time around, he would add 10 goals to his tally and finish the season with 45 goals, but the truth of the matter is, Caufield is playing better than he did last season, and the Canadiens’ power play is also much more productive. Last season, the man-advantage had a 20.1% success rate; this season, it has a 24.3% success rate. In 2024-25, he had 10 power-play goals; he now has eight, and it stands to reason that he will add to that tally.
How many goals do you think Caufield will end the season with?
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