Is Cole Caufield’s no empty-net, 50-goal season actually impressive?

Montreal Canadiens’ forward Cole Caufield scored his 50th goal of the season Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, becoming the first Canadien to reach the 50-goal mark in a single season since Stephane Richer did in 1989-90.

The 25-year-old Caufield has smashed all his offensive career highs in 2025-26, scoring 50 goals and adding 37 assists for 87 points. He is currently second in the NHL in goals, behind only Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon.

But one thing that some may argue adds to how impressive Caufield’s season has been is that he’s reached the 50-goal mark without scoring an empty netter.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss Caufield’s achievement and if the lack of empty-net goals adds to the accomplishment — or takes away from it.

Tyler Yaremchuk: No empty-net goals is insane for Cole Caufield. Yes, this is a big story that Habs fans have latched on to, calling it a “clean 50.” But I challenge that point and I say, “is it actually insane that Cole Caufield did this?”

When you look at this year in a nutshell and compare him to Nathan MacKinnon, then yes, it’s pretty impressive that he got to 50 without any empty-net goals, while MacKinnon had seven on the year. If you take away MacKinnon’s empty netters, he has 45.

But look at the time on ice between the two of them against a team with an empty net: MacKinnon has been on the ice for 30:22, while Caufield has been on the ice for just 3:22.

That’s my first pushback on it. Empty-net goals still count, and yes they’re not as impressive or as difficult as scoring five-on-five, but is the impressive thing that Caufield just isn’t trusted to play late in games?

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…