Montreal Canadiens: Dom Ducharme Thinks Cole Caufield’s Lack Of Production Under Him A Coincidence

The Montreal Canadiens made an unlikely run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. They got off to a hot start that season, then struggled, dumped their head coach and barely hung on to a playoff spot in a weak All-Canadian Division.

When they chose to move on from head coach Claude Julien, it was Dominique Ducharme who was promoted from his assitant role to be named the interim head coach. It was expected to be a short-term job and the team was prepared to do a more thorough search for a head coach in the offseason.

When the offseason kept getting shorter because of the team’s surprising run and eventual Stanley Cup runner-up status, general manager Marc Bergevin chose to keep Ducharme around. How could he not? The team took down the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights in the postseason under his guidance, going further than they had in 28 years.

Unfortunately, the team could not replicate their status as Stanley Cup champions the following season. They posted a dreadful, league-worst record of 8-30-7 with Ducharme as their head coach in 2021-22 and he was fired just over half a season into his three-year contract.

One player who really struggled under Ducharme was Cole Caufield. He played 30 games with Ducharme as the head coach in 2021-22, scoring just one goal and eight points. Some of that can be blamed on the young player learning his way at the NHL level, but Ducharme didn’t always put him in the best position to succeed.

Immediately after Ducharme was let go, and Martin St. Louis took over, Caufield caught fire. He played 37 games with his new head coach that season and scored 22 goals and 35 points.

Was it just a coincidence that the young forward found his game under a new head coach? That is what Ducharme believes.

While there is likely some truth to the coincidence theory, Caufield was also not always put in the best position to pile up points under Ducharme. Caufield did struggle with Nick Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli at the beginning of the season, but also found himself on the fourth line with Laurent Dauphin or Ryan Poehling later in the season, while not getting a lot of power play time.

With the team so low in the standings entering February, it didn’t make a lot of sense for Caufield to still be stuck on the fourth line. He probably deserved a demotion early in the year as he was not scoring and the team was struggling to find wins, lending some credence to Ducharme’s claim.

However, it was not just a pure coincidence that he started scoring after St. Louis took over as he was also given a bigger role at the same time. Was he ready for that role weeks before Ducharme was fired? Probably, and he likely would have started finding the back of the net had he been given the opportunity before Ducharme moved on.

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