Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens Sign Cole Caufield To 8-Year Contract
It’s finally over. The Montreal Canadiens have signed Cole Caufield to an eight-year deal.
After a long wait that had Canadiens fans across the world breaking a sweat, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced that the club had signed Cole Caufield to an eight-year deal worth $7.85M per year.
The deal will make Caufield the second-highest paid skater on the team as of next season, earning just $25,000 less than Nick Suzuki.
The 22-year-old not only got a significant show of confidence from the Canadiens management team, but also signed a deal that will help the club create a sort of salary structure moving forward; keeping salaries relative to that of their top two stars.
Caufield proved to be one of the NHL’s best goal-scorers last season, potting 26 goals in just 46 games before his shoulder injury; a 47-goal pace over a full 82-game season.
The impressive part? Most of those goals were scored at even strength, due to the Canadiens’ underwhelming power play; meaning that Caufield could stand to score even more in the future, as the club continues to add talent to their ranks.
It’s clear that, in the short term, this may be a lot of money for a youngster that hasn’t played a full season in the NHL just yet, but it’s clear to see that the potential to become a star is there; and it will likely prove to be a bargain as soon as next season.
Having that kind of deal in place for your two best players also gives Kent Hughes significant value in his core pieces moving forward; as both Caufield and Suzuki will continue to improve, while the salary cap rises considerably over the next five years.
While salaries increase, Caufield and Suzuki will remain bargains; giving the Canadiens a real shot to build a winner moving forward.
Cole Caufield could have bet on himself and pushed for a short-term deal in order to truly cash in down the line, but instead chose security and proved his love for the city by making a long-term commitment to playing and winning in Montreal.
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I love this player. He’s one of the most likeable Habs to put on the sweater in years. Having said this, and I know that most will disagree with me, but the elephant in the room is Caufield’s size. Maybe he’ll pull a Gionta or Naslund and be durable but… He’s already had shoulder surgery. I guess there’s LTIR for that. What if he was traded for this years #2 pick Adam Fantilli?
Or maybe he’ll pull a St. Louis… 😁
Good point! I just feel that the odds are stacked against small players. The NHL is a smash up derby that uses Lamborghinis.
Great analogy. That’s hilarious!😂
With Caufield, RHP, Gallagher & Hutson in the future, I think we’re at our limit for little guys. I don’t really see a long term future for guys like Farrell, Mesar, Mysak, etc. with our teams as we try to grind our way into and especially through the playoffs in the Atlantic division. We need weapons to counteract the Tkachuks and others like them. Guys like Anderson, hopefully Slafkovsky and maybe even Dubois.
It’s funny, I’ve been saying since last year we should pay him $7.85M x 8yrs. Give him the same ($25K is negligible) and move on to other things. If Dubois is serious about joining us next summer, give him the same thing too. If Dach breaks out and becomes a star, give it to him too. Both Dubois & Dach would be earning the same money as Suzuki and Caufield so they would feel equally appreciated, but as the cap will have risen, they’d actually have been given a slightly smaller percentage of the cap at the time of their signing, so Suzuki & Caufield would still have that feather in their caps. But the players will all be bringing home the same paycheque and that’s all they’ll care about. In the immortal words of Oprah, “You get $7.85M and you get $7.85M and you get $7.85M and you get $7.85M!”
excellent team friendly deal and cole is also set for life…sets the precedence for future negotiations as no one will make more then Cole or Nick. smart move by Hughes and shows how shrewd he is and how he understands hockey players