{"id":539037,"date":"2026-04-03T19:57:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/539037\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T19:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:57:24","slug":"cole-caufield-takes-aim-at-joining-the-montreal-canadiens-exclusive-50-goal-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/539037\/","title":{"rendered":"Cole Caufield takes aim at joining the Montreal Canadiens’ exclusive 50-goal club"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Minutes after scoring his 48th and 49th goals in the Montreal Canadiens\u2019 seventh consecutive win<\/a>, Cole Caufield was as on target with his humor as he was with his shot.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he\u2019s thinking about reaching 50 goals and catching Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL lead, Caufield deadpanned, \u201cNo.\u201d After a brief pause, he smiled and said, \u201cYeah,\u201d and laughter ensued.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re focused on our team game and winning games, and I think individual stuff comes with that,\u201d Caufield said. \u201cDoing the right things, you get more chances and opportunities. Obviously, it helps when you\u2019re winning games and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens are winning enough to emerge as a contender to hoist the Stanley Cup and end Canada\u2019s drought that dates to their championship in 1993. They\u2019ve raised a Cup banner more recently than they\u2019ve had a 50-goal scorer, and Caufield has a chance to be the first member of the storied franchise to get to that mark since Stephane Richer in 1990.<\/p>\n

“I didn\u2019t know it was (nearly) 40 years,” teammate Alex Newhook said. \u201cIt\u2019s been fun to watch. It seems like he keeps scoring every night. We\u2019re happy for him. We\u2019re pushing for him. Hopefully he keeps this thing rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Caufield rolled out of the Olympic break \u2014 after not making the U.S. roster \u2014 with 17 goals in 17 games, the most of any player in the league. His 83 points are already 13 clear of his previous career high.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s on a tremendous heater right now,\u201d Canadiens captain and leading scorer Nick Suzuki said. \u201cHe\u2019s just playing the right way, doing the right things and he\u2019s getting rewarded for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caufield wasn’t always this complete of a player. Undersized at 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds and counted on to produce to offset some defensive inefficiencies, he got sent down to Laval of the American Hockey League in the fall of 2021 when he had no goals and just one assist in 10 games with the Canadiens.<\/p>\n

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“I think it was worth it,” Caufield said, crediting coaches, linemates and others for helping him round out his play. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot more room to grow in my game. I think progressing every year with the team and the staff that we have, it\u2019s pretty easy to kind of find yourself working every day. I think it\u2019s just an addiction to kind of find ways to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents have noticed the progress from Caufield, who turned 25 in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thinks the game at a real high level,\u201d New York Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. \u201cIt\u2019s the combination that gives him the competitive advantage that he has. He\u2019s a really good player.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sullivan, a two-time Cup champion who also coached the U.S. to gold<\/a> at the Olympics, called Montreal \u201cone of the emerging teams in the league\u201d because of the mix of high-end skill and speed all over the roster. The Canadiens move the puck around at a rapid pace \u2014 on the ice and into the net.<\/p>\n

Caufield is a big part of that. Among players with 100 shots on net this season, only two are scoring at a higher rate than his 21.2%, tormenting goaltenders and delighting teammates happy to pick up another assist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy it,\u201d linemate Juraj Slafkovsky said. “You have a goal-scorer like this, you can always pass to him and there is a big chance it\u2019s going in.” That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do. I hope he can get (to 50) as soon as possible and get a lot more.”<\/p>\n

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The gravity of the situation isn’t lost on Caufield, who would be just the seventh Canadiens player to score 50 goals in a season, joining Richer (twice), Guy Lafleur (six times), Steve Shutt, Bernie Geoffrion, Pierre Larouche and Maurice Richard. If he passes MacKinnon and finishes with the most in the NHL, he’d also win the Maurice \u201cRocket” Richard Trophy named after one of the most decorated players in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Caufield insists he’s \u201cstill hungry.” This pursuit, followed by an even more important one in the playoffs, keeps him that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly it\u2019s a good feeling to be producing, but at the end of the day I think I\u2019ve grown a lot as a player and I\u2019m just going to try and continue to do that,\u201d Caufield said. \u201cFor me, right now, I still feel like there\u2019s more out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/p>\n

Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Minutes after scoring his 48th and 49th goals in the Montreal Canadiens\u2019 seventh consecutive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[633,265,971,5,976,264,21,5147,517,35,4,975,30962],"class_list":{"0":"post-539037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-alex-newhook","9":"tag-canadiens","10":"tag-cole-caufield","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-juraj-slafkovsky","13":"tag-montreal","14":"tag-montreal-canadiens","15":"tag-montrealcanadiens","16":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","17":"tag-new-york-rangers","18":"tag-nhl","19":"tag-nick-suzuki","20":"tag-stephane-richer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116342544575192278","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}