Should Montreal Canadiens fans calm down with Cole Caufield?

Montreal Canadiens top prospect Cole Caufield has been lighting up the exhibition with the Wisconsin Badgers and fans are running wild with their excitement.

Cole Caufield has been the talk of the Montreal Canadiens ever since captain Shea Weber called out his name in Vancouver at the 2019 NHL Draft. His size was a point of discussion, but what the organization was promised with selecting Caufield was goals. And boy have they gotten goals.

It started at development camp where Caufield scored a pair of goals during the shootout but put himself in positions at 5v5 to score on Ryan Poehling‘s wing. Caufield went on to play on Team USA at the World Junior Summer Showcase. The 18-year-old dressed for five games putting up a goal and assist for the Blue Squad and three goals and two assists for the main team.

One of his tallies was broadcasted all over the TSN Twitter account. Why? Because it was better than what hockey minds expected from him. Whether it is with time and space, at a sharp angle, or in-tight, Caufield finds a way to score. And as fate would have it, he’s continued doing that at the University of Wisconsin.

The Badgers have started their exhibition with games against the University of British Columbia. Caufield helped Wisconsin win both matches 3-0 and 7-5. Caufield scored in the first game thanks to a good feed from linemate Linus Weissbach and solid recognition of an open lane.

The hat-trick was a compilation of Caufield’s talents, including a blatant snipe to make it a 6-5 hockey game.

Thankfully, Jack Gorniak, another Montreal Canadiens prospect, potted in the empty-netter to end things off.

So far, we’ve seen Caufield stand out amongst his peers, perform against other nations and dominate in college and it’s ignited the fan base. There are some things to keep in mind.

His four goals are coming in the exhibition where defence isn’t the best or focused on. The Badgers scored six goals on an actual netminder their last game but also gave up five. We could possibly hold three of the four goals to poor defensive management, while his final was pure skill.

With that said, should Montreal Canadiens fans calm down with Cole Caufield? Absolutely not.

Setting ridiculous feats for the young player is a little excessive, but being excited about his future shouldn’t be frowned upon. Caufield has come as advertised and it shouldn’t be a bad thing to rave about what he’s done so far.

The regular season begins October 11th against Boston College. That is the next test for Caufield. But for now, stay excited. The Montreal Canadiens have a special player in their system, and if he continues on this path, some of those feats may very well get hit someday.