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Montreal Canadiens: 7 Talking Points on Eric Staal, Cole Caufield, Lines, Jesse Ylonen

By Sebastian High

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 17: Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens and Eric Staal #12 of the Minnesota Wild skate against each other during the second period at the Bell Centre on October 17, 2019 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 17: Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens and Eric Staal #12 of the Minnesota Wild skate against each other during the second period at the Bell Centre on October 17, 2019 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 29: Cole CAUFIELD #13 and Matthew Boldy #12 of the United States celebrate a goal against the Czech Republic during the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship at Rogers Place on December 29, 2020 in Edmonton, Canada. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)
EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 29: Cole CAUFIELD #13 and Matthew Boldy #12 of the United States celebrate a goal against the Czech Republic during the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship at Rogers Place on December 29, 2020 in Edmonton, Canada. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images) /

2. Cole Caufield

Another week, another Caufield talking point. The 5’7″ sniper played, in all likelihood, his final collegiate game on Friday against Bemidji State, who upset the Wisconsin Badgers in the first round of the NCAA tournament 6-3. If it weren’t for Caufield, however, Wisconsin would have likely only scored one goal, if any; he notched the primary assist on Wisconsin’s first goals and scored the following two himself.

This brought his season tally to 30 goals and 52 points in just 31 games, which puts him in a league of his own in NCAA 21st Century goal-scoring.

Oh, and here’s the first of the two goals Caufield scored on Friday, it was a beauty:

With the conclusion of Wisconsin’s season, Caufield is now free to sign his entry-level contract, which Marc Bergevin insinuated would occur in the next few days during his presser on Saturday. This is exciting news, while it is not yet evident if Caufield will see NHL action this season or if he will simply develop in Laval with Joel Bouchard, Caufield will almost certainly be a mainstay in the Habs’ lineup by the start of next season and will likely be the team’s best pure goalscorer right off the bat.

With the Eric Staal trade, the Habs are now right up against the Cap ceiling with just $523,547 of projected cap space according to CapFriendly, which would make signing Caufield a rather tight squeeze, especially considering the performance bonuses Suzuki and Kotkaniemi will get, which would then cut into next season’s cap. This means that the Habs might need to make one more trade to shed some salary.

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