Montreal Canadiens: Cole Caufield to Accompany Team on Road Trip, But Will He Play?

Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme confirmed that Cole Caufield will travel with the team on their upcoming road trip.

Caufield had previously been recalled from the Laval Rocket to the Canadiens taxi squad, but he isn’t on their official roster just yet.

The Habs are about to head out on a five game road trip to Alberta. They will face the Edmonton Oilers twice before three crucial games against the Calgary Flames.

When talking to the media before today’s game with the Ottawa Senators, Ducharme mentioned he would not be changing the winning lineup from last night’s contest, meaning Caufield would remain on the taxi squad. However, he did point out that Caufield would be with the team when they traveled out west after today’s game.

The Laval Rocket are in a bit of a lull in their schedule. They are having a great season, but have only one game between April 14th and April 30th. So, Caufield will only miss one game if he heads out west with the NHL club.

This doesn’t necessarily guarantee he will make his NHL debut on this trip, but with five games in eight days, it would make sense to mix up the lineup a few times.

The Canadiens power play is sputtering once again and that is a perfect spot to install Caufield to get him comfortable at the NHL level. Also, with Brendan Gallagher out for the rest of the regular season, the Habs are a little lighter at right wing than they normally would be which makes room for the 2019 first round pick.

After scoring 30 goals in 31 college games this season and three goals in two AHL games, Caufield looks more than ready for NHL duty. We should finally see him make his debut sometime this week in Alberta.