The Montreal Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993. You don’t have to remind Habs fans of that fact, but it is quickly approaching the 30 year anniversary of that triumph.
Since then, the team has had some decent regular seasons and great runs in the postseason, but they have never been able to win it all again. There was a time the Habs would win a dozen or more Stanley Cups in a 30 year period, but with 32 teams in the league now, that is not happening again.
Something else the team has been lacking for 30 years, in addition to a ring, is an elite goal scorer. They have had a few really good goal scorers like Alex Kovalev (in his good seasons) and Max Pacioretty, but it has been a long, long time since the Habs have had a player that is among the best goal scorers in the league.
We still may have to wait a little while longer before we start the Rocket Richard Trophy watch in Montreal, but we are seeing goal scoring in Montreal at levels that fans of this team have become unfamiliar with over the past 30 or so years.
Cole Caufield was heralded as a fantastic goal scorer from the day he was drafted by the Habs and he has not disappointed this season. The 15th overall pick from the 2019 NHL Draft has scored 12 goals in 20 games to begin this season.
He is capable of scoring from anywhere in the offensive zone, as seen with his long one-timer against the Buffalo Sabres earlier this week and he can come up clutch like he did in the final seconds of the team’s win over the Philadelphia Flyers last weekend.
His current scoring rate has him on pace for 49 goals this season. The Habs have not had a player score 49 goals in a very long time. In fact, Stephane Richer was the last Canadiens player to reach 50 and that was in 1989-90.
Even if Caufield cools down and finishes the season with 40, he will be the first Canadiens player to reach that plateau since Vincent Damphousse scored exactly 40 in 1993-94. Brian Bellows had precisely 40 the previous season but no one has scored more than 40 goals for the Canadiens in a season since Richer’s 51 in 1989-90.
So, Caufield is on pace to do something we have not seen in Montreal in way too long. A player who can average half a goal per game shouldn’t be this difficult to come across, but thankfully the Canadiens appear to have found not only one, but maybe two.
Nick Suzuki is just one goal back of Caufield as we speak. He has 11 goals in 20 games which has him on pace for 45. The last time the Canadiens had two 40 goal scorers in the same season? Well, it was three in fact, when Guy Lafleur and Pierre Larouche each scored 50 and Steve Shutt had 47 in 1979-80.
I don’t know if we are going to see anything like that ever again, but the Canadiens may have found their best goal scoring threat since the last time they were Stanley Cup champions.
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