Montreal Canadiens

Canadiens Forward Cole Caufield Poised To Flourish Next Season

Published

8 months ago

September 11, 2023

No player commanded more attention throughout the summer than Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield.

The sniper suffered a torn labrum, which necessitated surgical intervention to repair. Caufield only ended up playing 46 games last season. The impact of his loss was hard to ignore. Players recalled from the AHL did their best to help the team, but Caufield’s absence led to a significant downtick in every important metric, giving further evidence of his importance in the lineup.

The good news is that according to the player himself, the injury is no longer an issue. It’s also quite evident he’s champing at the bit to get going after such a long recovery period.

“I’ve been busy, every day, going in for rehab every day after the season,” said Caufield. “Now I feel 100%. I feel a lot more prepared, I’m ready to go. It’s been a long time off, not playing with the guys, not being ar found, but it creates more excitement, I’m looking forward to the start of the season.”

It took roughly six months for Caufield to recover from the shoulder surgery, which was performed by the same surgeon who operated on Josh Anderson’s shoulder.

Some injuries are almost guaranteed to lead to a downtick in performance, but thankfully for Montreal Canadiens fans, once a torn labrum is repaired, it usually leads to a return to normalcy in results.

But despite saying he’s feeling confident about his season, Caufield does not want to set a benchmark when it comes to how many goals he’ll score, a rather wise approach given that he has not played a game since January 19.

“No, not really,” said Caufield. “Every year you just want to keep improving. I think there’s a lot more things than goals that I want to work on, I’m a little more focused on those this year.”

One thing he’s focusing on is his health.

He’s yet to play every game in an 82-game schedule.

To be perfectly fair, only Nick Suzuki and Johnathan Kovacevic had a perfect bill of health last year, but Caufield knows that being labelled an ‘injury-prone’ player is a possibility.

A possibility he wants to avoid at all costs.

“That’s my biggest goal this year, stay healthy, play a full 82, and help the guys as much as I can,” explained Caufield. “I think training camp will be huge, a lot of the guys have been here for a couple of weeks, the excitement is there, and it will be great to have a full roster heading into the year.”

One of the main factors that kept Caufield in the loop throughout his recovery was constant communication with head coach Martin St-Louis, who has emerged as a player’s coach for the Montreal Canadiens.

Unlike many coaches that came before him, St-Louis puts an onus on clear and constant communication with his players.

“He’s been great,” said Caufield. “There’s been a lot of communication with everybody, it was good talk to him. All the guys like him so far. I think the communication part has been big for everyone. Everyone wants that going forward.”

One thing is clear, Caufield is excited.

He spent his time golfing and attending a Taylor Swift concert, which he described as the highlight of his summer, but he’s ready to get back to doing what he does best, and his shoulder will not hold him back.

“It’s good. It feels better than it did before. I’m ready to go. It’s 100%. I’m excited,” said Caufield.

He also spent a significant portion of the summer working out, which has clearly had an impact on his muscle mass.

“Thank you,” said Caufield with a laugh when asked about his “thick” body. “I had a lot of time. I feel good. It was a long summer but I’m happy to be back.”