Dominique Ducharme made a controversial statement regarding the setbacks of Cole Caufield

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Elias Edmonson
August 29, 2023 (6:27 PM)

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Despite some difficult moments in his first full season in the NHL, Cole Caufield's talent has never been doubted by Montreal fans. Many observers even wondered why the 15th overall pick in 2019 was completely unrecognizable under the command of Dominic Ducharme, having only scored one goal in 30 games in 2021-2022.

From the moment the Quebecer was replaced by Martin St. Louis as head coach, the offensive production of number 22 simply exploded. Cole Caufield was one of the best forwards in the NHL, collecting 22 goals and 13 assists (35 points) in the last 37 regular season games.

Appearing on the podcast The Sick Podcast With Tony Marinaro, the new assistant coach of the Vegas Golden Knights provided a rather surprising explanation to justify the forward's underperformance. According to him, if Cole Caufield struggled to produce consistently, it's simply because of the accumulated fatigue from his season in the college ranks as well as the Canadiens' long playoff run the previous year.

Some fans will probably agree with the former Canadiens coach, but we don't entirely agree with this statement. Cole Caufield played 31 games with the University of Wisconsin and 32 games with the Montreal Canadiens and the Laval Rocket, for a total of 63 games. Considering that NHL players play a condensed 82-game schedule during the season, we find it hard to believe that the only reason explaining this situation is fatigue.

Especially since, upon the arrival of Martin St. Louis, Cole Caufield began producing at a fast pace. If the forward indeed felt signs of fatigue, why did his production almost quadruple under the former Tampa Bay Lightning forward?

In our opinion, it's much easier to attribute this progress to the wise advices given by his new head coach, who did not hesitate to let Caufield play his own style, constantly giving him new opportunities to excel alongside Nick Suzuki and on the power play.

Click to see video: Caufield and Ducharme

One thing's for sure, we are very pleased to see that the Canadiens forward has found his offensive touch, and he could possibly become the first 40-goal scorer in nearly 30 years for the Habs this season.