Cole Caufield was in the middle of the best start of his NHL career. He had ten goals in 11 games and scored in four straight before a four-game dry spell recently. It isn't the only reason for Caufield's dry spell, but Martin St. Louis recently demoted him to the second line to play with Jake Evans and Alex Newhook. The move doesn't make much sense for a sniper who needs a playmaker on his line to generate goal-scoring opportunities.
Caufield must become more of a play-driver if he expects to be one of the best players on the Habs and, maybe one day, one of the better goalscorers in the league. It helps that Caufield can stand at the top of the circle and snipe home shots, but that doesn't mean he can't create some offense on his own. The idea for St. Louis makes sense, but it's a challenging pill to swallow for a player hunting a career-high in goals.
Caufield now has to rely on Alex Newhook and Jake Evans to give him scoring chances at five-on-five. Newhook's season-high assists in his career are 20, while Evans' is 21. They are far from the talent level of Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, or even Kirby Dach, whom Caufield played with at five-on-five before the recent line shakeup.
St. Louis is desperate to find a top six that works with the Canadiens, who are in last place in the NHL. The top six wasn't considered close to the Canadiens' biggest concern entering this season, but it's quickly becoming their biggest one. I don't blame St. Louis for trying something outside the box, but I'm not so sure that Caufield deserves to be the victim of the shakeup.
Caufield has been the Canadiens' lone bright spot in the top six. He should have at least one player on his line who is known as a skilled guy. Playmaking must be good quality in a Caufield linemate, which means Suzuki or Dach should be somewhere in the trio.
St. Louis isn't using enough foresight in this lineup decision. Patrik Laine will soon return and find a place in the top six. Replacing Newhook or Evans makes the most sense, but it would make little sense to play Caufield and Laine together. This means the lines will have to go in a blender again when that return happens.
It makes sense to look ahead to the lines when Laine returns and use Evans or Newhook as a placeholder. There's a good chance that Slafkovsky or Dach will move down the lineup to play with Laine, and Caufield will return to the first line with the remaining players. Why not put Dach or Slafkovsky down on the second line now and start building a first line that will stay together once everyone gets healthy?
The only thing this top six will do is destroy Caufield's hot start and possibly his confidence as he generates little offensive zone success at five-on-five.