Cole Caufield: as effective as Alex Ovechkin in the slot at five-on-five this season

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Crédit: Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Cole Caufield is having an outstanding season. With 24 goals in 47 games, he is just five goals away from breaking his personal record for a season.

The Montreal Canadiens’ number 13 has a rocket of a shot that can get past any NHL goalie, especially when he is in a prime scoring position, such as in the crease, for example.

When shooting from the crease at even strength this season, Caufield has an identical success rate to that of a certain Alex Ovechkin. This was reported by François-David Rouleau from the Journal de Montréal, who relied on Sportlogiq’s statistics.

This season, Caufield has managed to score on 9.7% of his shots taken from the crease at even strength. Ovechkin has the same success rate. This is something to be proud of for the young sniper of the CH.

Caufield’s 9.7% rate places him 34th in the entire NHL. The players at the top of this ranking are often those who have not taken many shots. That’s why Adam Gaudette of the Senators ranks first with a rate of 15.6%.

The former Canadiens player is not far behind with a success rate of 13.7%.

To return to Caufield’s success rate of 9.7%, it is worth noting that he has more than doubled his effectiveness compared to last year. In the 2023-24 season, he had only a 4.4% success rate on shots from the crease at even strength.

Caufield is effective on the power play this season, but he has truly stood out at even strength. 17 of his 24 goals have been scored at five-on-five.

Caufield’s efficiency is evident during games. When he finds himself in an excellent scoring position, he often takes advantage of his chance. A good example is this goal against the Capitals when he was all alone in front of the opposing goalie.

His powerful shot also allows him to get through defenders. This was recently demonstrated against the Canucks.

This efficiency can partly be attributed to the multiple passes from his teammates completed in the crease this season. Nick Suzuki has delivered 15, just ahead of the nine from Juraj Slafkovsky and the eight from Lane Hutson.

However, Caufield can take some credit himself because to receive so many passes in the crease, you must be good enough to stand out from opposing defenders.

In Brief

– The rule was not well received.

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– Nice photo!