While team success continues to be a work in progress for the Montreal Canadiens, Cole Caufield has emerged as one of the league's best goal scorers since Martin St. Louis took over as head coach.
Tuesday's game against the Winnipeg Jets will mark Caufield's 82nd since Martin St. Louis took over behind the bench. With a full season's sample size, Caufield has been among the NHL's top goal-scorers under the Hall of Fame winger.
Caufield has played 81 games under St. Louis, who replaced Dominique Ducharme as Canadiens coach on Feb. 9 of last year, scoring 48 goals.
The 22-year-old winger had just five goals in 40 games before St. Louis took over behind the bench and just one goal in the 30 games prior to the coaching change. Caufield quickly found his scoring touch under St. Louis, posting 22 goals in 37 games to close out the season.
This season, Caufield sits ninth in goals with 26 through 44 games, tied with Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl and Winnipeg Jets centre Mark Scheifele.
The total of 48 goals since the date of St. Louis' hiring on Feb. 9, 2022, puts Caufield tied for the eighth most in the league over the span. He's once again equal with Draisaitl, who has played two fewer games since that date.
NHL Goal Leaders Since Feb. 9, 2021
| Player | Goals | Games Played |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Connor McDavid | 58 | 82 |
| 2. Tage Thompson | 55 | 79 |
| 3. Kirill Kaprizov | 53 | 82 |
| t4. David Pastrnak | 51 | 71 |
| t4. Alex Ovechkin | 51 | 76 |
| t4. Jason Robertson | 51 | 82 |
| 7. Auston Matthews | 50 | 75 |
| t8. Leon Draisaitl | 48 | 79 |
| t8. Cole Caufield | 48 | 81 |
| 10. Bo Horvat | 47 | 70 |
Caufield scored in each of his first two games under St. Louis after the coaching change and six of his first seven behind the bench. While he hasn't been able to hold up that pace, he's scoring in 59.2 per cent of his games under the Hall of Fame winger, compared to just 12.5 per cent in his first 40 NHL games.
The pending restricted free agent took advantage of a miscue by New York Rangers defenceman K'Andre Miller to score the game-winning goal for Montreal on Sunday.
"I'm always ready in those situations," Caufield said. "You've got to capitalize on their mistakes, and we did that there."
A bar may have been set for a starting point in negotiations with the Canadiens on Caufield’s second contract after the Minnesota Wild signed fellow 2019 first-round pick Matt Boldy to a seven-year, $49 million extension on Monday. Caufield is also in the last year of his entry-level contract and is currently set to become a restricted free agent on July 1.
Boldy has 27 goals and 68 points in 89 career games, while Caufield - taken by the Canadiens three picks later at No. 15 overall - has 53 goals and 84 points in 121 games.
