A few Montreal Canadiens players have taken in some World Cup action this offseason, and you can now add Cole Caufield to the (short) list.
After Ivan Demidov and Jakub Dobes took a trip to Florida to see their favorite player, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Portugal take on Colombia in the group stage, Montreal Canadiens sniper Cole Caufield attended the World Cup Final with Philadelphia Flyers Trevor Zegras, Detroit Red Wings Dylan Larkin and Nashville Predators Filip Forsberg.
Habs players aren’t lucky when it comes to choosing which game to attend. Demidov and Dobes saw a goalless draw, and the Final was also goalless at the end of regulation, despite Spain being outrageously dominant over Argentina.
Thankfully for those in attendance at MetLife Stadium, however, Spain was mercifully able to net the winner in overtime, with Argentina being down to 10 men after a reckless challenge saw Enzo Fernandez get his marching order in stoppage time of the second half. Not unlike the Canadiens in the playoffs, Argentina struggled to get shots on goal; they had one attempt blocked, two that went off target and not a single one on net. It would have been hard for Messi’s side to triumph in those circumstances; hopefully, Caulfield took notes.
Photo credit: Cole Caufiled, Dylan Larkin and Filip Forsberg InstagramThe Canadiens’ most prolific goal scorer and his friends would have had a much better show if they had traveled to Miami to catch the third-place game between England and France on Saturday, which ended 6-4 and looked more like a hockey game than a soccer match. After England took a 4-0 lead in the first half, France stormed back in the second half, and while they never completely caught up, they put on a great show.
Still, despite the lack of goals in the Final, it’s quite an impressive event to attend, and who knows, Caufield might even have lobbied Larkin to extend his acceptable trade destinations to include Montreal. The 29-year-old center is under contract for five seasons at a very reasonable $8.7 million cap hit and is the kind of player who could unlock Demidov’s full potential. One has to wonder if he would stick around for the rest of his contract; however, once a player demands a trade because things aren’t going to his liking in one place, there’s always a concern that he could do it again, especially with the no-trade clause following the contract.
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