Canadiens make huge mistake with Cole Caufield

The Montreal Canadiens are not just making fans unhappy with their recent performances, they are also making them quite confused when it comes to star prospect Cole Caufield.

Since being called up to the Montreal Canadiens taxi squad last week, Caufield has taken part in practices and gone through game-day routines, but has sit helpless as his team keeps losing games. 

Fans are upset, wondering why the Habs called him up only to have him “sit like a lump of Cole” as Sports Illustrated puts it. 

Here is how the Canadiens’ decision is explained, best by SI: 

“The fact that he hasn’t played yet, and is unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future has the Montreal hockey market in a lather. The Canadiens claimed they did not want to use their last of four non-emergency call-ups of the season on Caufield because it would take away future flexibility. Now with goalie Carey Price out for a week in concussion protocol, the Canadiens will have to recall Cayden Primeau as an emergency call-up and keep three goalies on the roster, which creates a salary cup issue that would prevent them from using Caufield even if they wanted to.”

(On Wednesday, the Canadiens actually recalled Charlie Lindgren from Laval.)

That’s why fans and pundits don’t understand why the Habs even bothered to elevate Caufield from the Laval Rocket to the taxi squad in the first place. 

Technically, Montreal could both recall Primeau (or Lindgren) and activate Caufield, but it would mean having to send someone else down. After the trade deadline, teams can have as many roster players , but it has to be cap compliant. 

And the Habs wouldn’t be and, seeing that they are limited to four call-ups after the trade deadline, they already made three of those  on Paul Byron, Xavier Ouellet and Alexander Romanov.

As the Habs keep losing games, can you imagine the type of pressure on Caufield’s shoulders? Do we really expect a young kid who has never played a shift in the NHL before to come in and cure what ails them offensively? 

The Canadiens have scored just 15 goals in their past nine games and two or fewer in seven of their past eight: there is no doubt that Caufield could help with that. 

And while he cannot do everything to make the Habs a true contender, it would have been nice to to see what he could do on NHL ice… What a huge mistake for the Canadiens.