Canadiens send Calder Trophy favorite Caufield to the AHL
Cole Caufield’s pursuit of the Calder Trophy is off to a difficult start.
Through 10 games this season, the No. 15 overall pick from the 2019 draft has just one assist. On Monday, the Montreal Canadiens opted to send Caufield down to the Laval Rocket of the AHL.
Canadiens have assigned Cole Caufield to the Laval Rocket and recalled Michael Pezzetta, in addition to placing Mathieu Perreault on the injured reserve list.#GoHabsGo https://t.co/5uKscCiBB7
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 1, 2021Caufield had an excellent season across multiple levels in 2020-21.
He started off playing his sophomore season for the University of Wisconsin Badgers, where he led the team in scoring with 30 goals and 52 points over 31 games.
Once the Badgers season finished, he joined the Rocket, where he scored four points in two games. That was enough to earn him a call-up to the Habs, where Caufield would impress with five points in his first 10 NHL games.
It was during Montreal’s playoff run where Caufield really put himself on the map. Caufield was one of the Habs’ top offensive producers during their shocking run to the Stanley Cup Final, as he finished third on the team in playoff scoring with 12 points in 20 games, behind only Nick Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli.
Pretty much nothing is going well for the Habs right now.
They’re 2-8-0 and they rank 26th in the league with 19 goals scored and 29th in the league with 34 goals against.
The hope for Montreal is that Caufield can regain his confidence playing in the AHL and come back up and be the producer he was for the team last year. We’re only a few weeks into the 2021-22 season and this hole the Habs gave dug for themselves won’t be easy to climb out of.