A little over a month ago, we learned that three Canadian players were going to take part in the Confrontation of the 4 nations. Samuel Montembeault will represent Canada, while Patrik Laine and Joel Armia will do the same with Finland.
On the other hand, there are still certain players at the club who have been ignored. Of the lot, Cole Caufield was chosen by the United States, despite a solid start to the season.
We preferred support players (it takes players to play shorthanded, after all), but it was a shame for Caufield.
However, what we notice is that since he was ignored by his country, Caufield is really on fire. In fact, the forward has played in 16 games since learning he was passed over for Team USA…and in those 16 games, he’s scored 17 points.
For this reason, NHL Network placed him among the great forgotten members of the United States team.
What is clear, however, is that #13 plays very big hockey these days. He notably scored a goal in each of his last five games, which helped the club while Patrik Laine missed the last four games.
This means that at the moment, Caufield is alone in first place in the Bettman circuit for goals scored at 5 against 5 this season, ahead of a certain Leon Draisaitl (and Rickard Rakell, who is having quite a season in Pittsburgh).
It’s also worth remembering that Caufield is tied for first in the NHL in goals on the road, tied with Draisaitl. He scores goals on the road and at equal numbers: difficult to ask for better for a scorer.
-Last week, my colleague Marc-Olivier Cook wondered if the United States was starting to regret ignoring Caufield for the tournament. A week later, Caufield, who is on track to finish the season with 46 goals, added four points (including two goals) in two games, and above all, he has just spent at least 20 minutes on the ice in each of his last three games.
We can think that the United States is having more and more regrets… but above all, that this is currently motivating Caufield. And if it can push him to continue playing big hockey like he has been doing for a month, the Canadian will (really) not complain.
In burst
– Juraj Slafkovský and aimé son match games.
– The pair formed by Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson also play very gros hockey.
– The tossed of the day.
– It would give Kent Hughes a lot of play, as my colleague Charles-Alexis Brisebois told you about in November.
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