For the last four years, the Molson Cup might as well have been called the Nick Suzuki Cup; the Montreal Canadiens’ captain has won it each year since the team started its rebuild. Every time a player is named one of the stars of the game, he receives a certain number of points, and at the end of the season, the player with the most points is awarded the Trophy. Each month, the award is given to the players who have accumulated the most points in the star scoring system.
For the first month of the season, the team announced that Cole Caufield was the winner of the Molson Cup. While the winger doesn’t lead the team in points (he has 13 and Suzuki has 16), he’s the runaway leader in goals with nine (Juraj Slafkovsky is second with five). More importantly, though, he’s scored several clutch goals, allowing the Habs to win in overtime three times in October.
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Caufield was selected as a star of the game five times; three times the first star, once the second, and once the third. His three overtime goals allowed him to become the franchise leader in overtime goals scored with 11. He reached that milestone in just 298 games, while Max Paccioretty needed 626 games to score 10 overtime winners, and Howie Morenz had set the record at 10 in 460 games. He’s also the fastest player in NHL history to score 11 overtime goals.
Caufield took part in 78 overtime games with the Habs and scored the game-winner 11 times, or 14% of the time. If you want a basis of comparison, Alexander Ovechkin, who sits atop the overtime goal scorers in league history, has scored 27 goals in 369 games played in overtime, scoring the winning goal just 7% of the time. The illustrious Mario Lemieux finished his career with 11 overtime goals scored in 132 overtime appearances. Sidney Crosby, who’s second in overtime goals scored, has 24 in 317 OT, getting the winner 8% of the time. As for Brad Marchand, who completes the top three with 21 lamplighters in 259 overtime games, that’s also an 8% scoring rate in OT.
Will Caufield be able to keep that pace up? Hard to know, but right now it pays for him to be the one player who’s the shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later kind of player on the Canadiens. The Habs have got a lot of playmakers, but not so many snipers. They do have Patrik Laine, but he’s been sidelined more often than not, and his defensive shortcomings make him a hazardous option in overtime. For those wondering, coach Martin St-Louis scored 10 overtime goals in his career, in 261 games, or just 4% of the time.
It will be interesting to see if someone manages to wrestle the Molson Cup away from Nick Suzuki’s hands this season. Caufield certainly stands out as a prime candidate right now.
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