Montreal Canadiens: Cole Caufield To Make Pro Debut Tonight With Laval Rocket

Montreal Canadiens top prospect Cole Caufield has already had an excellent season.

He will undoubtedly be named this year’s winner of the Hobey Baker Award after a season where he scored 30 goals and 52 points in 31 games. The Wisconsin Badgers sniper helped carry the team to a regular season Big Ten Conference title as he led the entire nation in goals by a wide margin and also finished first in points.

The Hobey Baker will be announced this evening, but Caufield will be busy tending to other matters.

The Laval Rocket are taking on the Toronto Marlies tonights and Caufield will be making his AHL debut. He signed an entry-level contract with the Canadiens nearly two weeks ago after his team lost out in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. He had to quarantine for a week but has joined the Rocket for practices this week and is set to start his pro journey.

Caufield was the Canadiens first round pick in 2019 and has since been one of the best players in NCAA Hockey for the past two years. His 49 goals and 88 points in 67 games over the past two seasons shows how dominant of an offensive player he has been during his college career.

Caufield has all the tools to take those goal scoring skills to the next level. His speed is great and the release on his shot is absolutely incredible. There is no reason to believe he won’t be able to score plenty of goals at the AHL level immediately and could find himself in the NHL in the near future.

With Brendan Gallagher out long term and Joel Armia still recovering from his bout with Covid-19, it would be nice to have Caufield step into the Habs lineup right now. However, it makes sense to have him dip his toe into the pro game with the Laval Rocket first.

There is no report of what line he will be on or who he plays with, but there should be no question that he ends up on the top wave of the power play.

If I were to guess, I think we see Caufield on the top line with veteran centre Jordan Weal and either Yannick Veilleux or Rafael Harvey-Pinard on the left side.

No matter who he plays with, Caufield will make it a really exciting game with his offensive skills.