At the start of the 2021-22 season, the Montreal Canadiens hoped that Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki would be able to pick up where they left off. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, that plan has not materialized. Suzuki, while not thriving by any measure, has managed to endure, parlaying his situation into a debut All-Star Game appearance. Caufield, on the other hand, has enjoyed much less success.
Deprived of arguably the Canadiens’ only playmaking centre, Caufield has bounced up and down the lineup — even playing for the Laval Rocket for a time. Unable to find sustained chemistry, the rookie sniper has struggled to establish a rhythm, and while Trevor Zegras’s pre-season prediction of 40 goals was always tongue-in-cheek, Caufield would likely be the first to admit that his current tally of one is shocking.