Cole Caufield is an American professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 15th overall by the Canadiens in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
Following success with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (USNTDP), Caufield played for the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.
At Wisconsin, he won the Hobey Baker Award and was the leading goal and point-scorer for the 2020–21 NCAA season.
Internationally, Caufield has represented the United States in numerous tournaments including winning a gold medal at the U17 WHC, a silver and bronze medal at the 2018 U18 WJC and 2019 U18 WJC respectively, and a gold medal at the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
What Happened to Cole Caufield?
Caufield was sent down to AHL Laval on Monday, putting a pause on his NHL tenure after recording just one assist in 10 games.
Given he had four goals and five points in 10 NHL regular season games last year before notching 12 points in 20 post-season contests as a 20-year-old rookie, it’s been a big disappointment.
Caufield hasn’t looked like he did a year ago: a youngster beaming with all the confidence in the world. But he was also underutilized, too.
Caufield averaged 11:09 of 5-on-5 ice time in those 10 games, beating out only Mathieu Perreault, Joel Armia, Artturi Lehkonen and Cedric Paquette among players Habs forwards with at least eight games played.
Caufield is third among Canadiens forwards with 9.14 shots-per-60, but with nothing to show for (same with Armia and Brendan Gallagher above him), it doesn’t mean a whole lot.