Cole Caufield's body of work in the last season should see him land a spot on NHL Network's Top 20 Right Now Wingers list, read on to find out why.
On Sunday night, at 7:00 PM, NHL Network will air its Top 20 Wings Right Now list. Is Montreal Canadiens’ sniper Cole Caufield likely to land on that list? The American goal scorer might have failed to make his national team for the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympics, but that was mostly down to the Americans wanting to play a style of game that he wasn’t really suited to.
Caufield finished the last season with 88 points, third amongst all right wingers behind Nikita Kucherov (130 points) and David Pastrnak (100 points). He was also sixth amongst all wingers since Jason Robertson (96 points), Kyle Connor (92 points) and Kirill Kaprizov (89 points), who has a $17 M cap hit, all finished ahead of him.
In goals, Caufield and his 51 lamplighters ruled the roost. No one even came close to him. Kucherov was the closest right winger with 44 goals, and Kaprizov was the top-scoring left winger with 45 goals. In fact, only one forward scored more goals than Caufield, centerman Nathan MacKinnon, who had 53 goals (including eight empty-net goals). Interestingly, Kucherov, who was the second-highest-scoring right winger, had seven empty-netters.
Caufield was also tied in fourth place when it comes to the best differential amongst wingers at plus-29, bested only by Kucherov (plus-44), Brandon Hagel (plus-34), and Artturi Lehkonen (plus-32).
Statistically speaking, Caufield should find his way onto that list, even if he didn’t have the size Team USA was looking for. He’s also a constant threat on the power play, has scored a lot of game-tying or game-winning goals for the Canadiens, and he has a knack for scoring when he is most needed to, at least in the regular season. Furthermore, he’s one of the greatest bang-for-your-buck players in the league with a $7.85 million cap hit. Who do you see making the NHL Network's Top 20?
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