Montreal Canadiens: Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki’s Poise, Maturity Impressive

The Montreal Canadiens struck gold when they had Cole Caufield fall to them with the 13th-overall selection in the 2019 NHL Draft, he was considered the best goalscorer in the draft, but because of his small frame teams passed on him. This of course fell into the Canadiens’ favour and would be a very important piece for the Habs going forward.

The second important piece, which might be number one, depending on who you ask, is captain Nick Suzuki, who was acquired in the trade with the Vegas Golden Knights, who were adamant about keeping Cody Glass in the fold.

With both Suzuki and Caufield not getting a chance to play a full season together until the 2021-22 season, surely an adjustment period would need to be had before the duo could build some chemistry, right? The safe answer is yes, but the performance of Caufield, 19, and Suzuki, 21, erased any question marks about the two players’ inexperience. Especially considering the fact that the pair had their coming out party during the 2020-21 run to the Stanley Cup final.

The Habs’ two young stars were in the middle of everything, and in large part drove the Habs’ offence through the Toronto Maple Leafs upset, then the sweep of the Winnipeg Jets. The battle with the Vegas Golden Knights was a little more hard-fought, but they were no match for the Canadiens’ special young dynamic duo. While they didn’t play up to the par of Patrick Roy and Ken Dryden before them, they represented the Habs’ future quite well right from the start.

While the pair were clutch and seemed to never really doubt what they were going to do, they had something in their back pockets that helped them achieve such great things in the pressure cooker that is the Stanley Cup playoffs. A linemate, who, just so happened to have some very crucial experience, and was a tremendous leader and mentor for them. Tyler Toffoli was massive for Caufield and Suzuki, and his Stanley Cup ring and pedigree, were huge for helping him mentor the Canadiens pillars of the future.

Tyler Toffoli’s Importance

Certainly, both Suzuki and Caufield have many stories and great things to say about Toffoli, and when he was traded away, you could sense he was a tough guy to lose. But, nevertheless, he was traded away, since the Canadiens were going in one direction, and Toffoli was hoping to compete for another Stanley Cup. The impact he left on the roster, won’t soon be forgotten, and the fruits of his work with the Canadiens will continue through Suzuki and Caufield’s mature and poised play on the ice.

So, when the Canadiens acquired Tanner Pearson recently, Caufield was quoted as telling the media he reached out to Toffoli to ask about his former Stanley Cup-winning teammate. Kent Hughes knew about the pedigree and had an idea of what Pearson would bring to the team. But Toffoli’s response to Caufield via text, told him all he needed to know, stating that, “he’s a good dude.”

It was also reported by the Montreal Gazette’s Canadiens beat writer, Stu Cowan that Toffoli has sung his praises about playing in Montreal, and how it was such a great experience. Pearson received a text message from Brendan Gallagher, and he was surprised by it, but he knew that Toffoli loved his time in Montreal. Pearson was able to gain more confidence and feel excitement about going to a new organization, because of what Toffoli told him.

Pearson also touched on his familiarity with Gallagher, from their time together during the World Junior Championships back in 2012, when the pair helped Canada to a Bronze Medal win. He joked that he had been roommates with Gallagher, unfortunately. So the familiarity and comfortability for Pearson, and the fact that he played on Suzuki and Caufield’s line during the red vs. scrimmage on Sunday afternoon, could turn into another great opportunity for the young duo to learn from a veteran with a Stanley Cup ring.

Want your voice heard? Join the A Winning Habit team!

Write for us!