Five CH defensemen have as many (or more) goals as Cole Caufield at five-on-five

Looking at Cole Caufield’s stats on HockeyDB, Elite Prospects or the NHL’s official website (in short, your favorite stats site), his point totals are far from disappointing.

In fact, 15 points in 18 games is hardly a bad harvest, as he’s on track for a 68-point season. Yet everyone agrees that the 22 has been disappointing so far this season.

But why?

Because, if we dig a little deeper, we can see thathe has just four points at five to five. Overtime and power-play goals/points are all well and good, but hockey is played 75% of the time at five-on-five. He needs to produce under these circumstances…

As noted by the canadiens.central Instagram account, five of the eight defensemen who have played at least one game this season have managed to score as many or more goals than Caufield at five-on-five. The winger, meanwhile, has just one goal to his name in these circumstances.

Justin Barron (3), Johnathan Kovacevic (2), Arber Xhekaj (1), Gustav Lindstrom (1) and Mike Matheson (1) have all found the net as many or more times than Caufield at even strength.

But it’s not as if the child of Martin St-Louis isn’t trying. Yes, he shoots at the net a lot, but the puck just won’t go in. The coach even changed his lineup a few times to try and get Caufield going again, but to no avail.

Since the start of the season, the diminutive right-hander has scored five goals: one on the power play, one on a tie and the other three in overtime.

Could the Habs play 82 games a year in 3-on-3? I’m asking for a friend…

As for Caufield’s performance, while tinged with concern, there’s no need to panic. After all, he’s still the team’s second-highest scorer, behind captain and number-one center Nick Suzuki.

(Credit: NHL.com )