Montreal Canadiens sniper Cole Caufield has been red hot since the start of the season, could he be set to reach NHL elite Status this year?
Cole Caufield has always been a goal scorer at every level. He was always the guy who could find the back of the net, but when draft day came, his diminutive frame saw him fall to the 15th rank of the draft, where the Montreal Canadiens selected him.
Then, the Habs advised him to play a couple of seasons in the NCAA, where he had already committed to be a Wisconsin Badger and play with his brother Brock. In 67 games in the Big 10, the sniper gathered 88 points, including 49 goals.
He was then allowed to graduate to the pros and jump into the NHL, joining the Canadiens on their unlikely run to the 2021 Stanley Cup final after clinching four points in two games with the Laval Rocket. He played in 10 playoff games as the Canadiens marched on to the final, putting up five points, including two goals.
The start of his rookie season in 2021-22 was a real struggle, but to be fair, the Canadiens were imploding badly. Captain Shea Weber and the face of the franchise, goalie Carey Price, could not play because of injuries, which ultimately landed them both on LTIR. Caufield was even demoted to the AHL at the start of November 2021 for six games, during which he picked up five points.
Caufield's rookie season took a better turn once the Canadiens dismissed Dominique Ducharme and replaced him with Martin St-Louis, a player to whom the sniper could definitely relate. He finished the season with 43 points in 67 games. Under the rookie coach, the young sniper gathered 35 points in 37 games, including 22 goals.
In his sophomore season, he was on pace to score 46 goals over 82 games until a shoulder injury caused him to pull the plug on his season after just 46 games in January 2023.
With a surgically repaired shoulder, Caufield was ready to jump back into the action last season but didn't produce as much as most expected. In 82 games, he put up 28 goals and 37 assists for a total of 65 points. He struggled a bit out of the game, finding twine less often than he had before and an 8.9% shooting percentage, a far cry from the 16.8% he had in his sophomore season.
St-Louis made it clear during the season that he wasn't worried about Caufield's shooting percentage, saying he was working on making him less of a unidimensional player and would be fine.
Fast forward to this season, and Caufield is firing on all cylinders. He's currently tied in first place across the league with nine goals in 10 games alongside New Jersey Devils Nico Hischier, who has nine tallies in 12 games. Tied in second place with eight lamplighters are the Avalanche Ross Colton (who is now injured) and reigning Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov.
Right now, Caufield has an unbelievable 30.8% success rate when shooting, and it would be surprising if he could maintain that torrid rate. With nine goals in ten games, he's currently on pace for 74 on the season, which would be the eighth-highest total in history, a mark set by Wayne Gretzky back in 1984-85.
In Montreal, though, Caufield doesn't need to score 72 goals to achieve elite status. The Canadiens haven't had a 50-goal scorer since Stephane Richer accomplished the feat twice in 1987-88 and 1989-90. The closest anybody came was Max Pacioretty, with 39 goals in 2013-14.
If Caufield breaks the 40-goal barrier, he will have achieved elite status in Montreal, but the 50-goal mark would certainly help his case to achieve the same league-wide. It's awfully early to say if he will get there based on only 10 games, but let's just say that for now, he's well on his way.
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