The World Championship is currently in full swing.
Slaf is doing well with Slovakia… Guhle is playing his part to perfection with Canada…
And then there’s Cole Caufield, who’s been virtually invisible since the start of the competition.
The American has picked up two assists in three games so far, even though the U.S. hasn’t faced any big countries.
The States lost their first game to Sweden… But then they played Germany and Slovakia, and the Canadian hasn’t been able to do what he does best – find the back of the net.
It seems to tickle me a little, even if the sample is small, because we know how difficult it can be on the confidence of a scorer like him.
The last thing the Habs want, after all, is for him to arrive at camp less confident next year after a tough tournament at the World Championships.
Caufield will have a chance to have some fun this afternoon, though, as his country takes on France:
Cole Caufield & Team USA ๐บ๐ธ will face France ๐ซ๐ท this afternoon.
The game will be on TSN3 at 2pm ET. pic.twitter.com/4ByP6nlkaQ
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 16, 2024
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The U.S.’ next opponents aren’t intimidating, and I’d like to see Caufield take advantage of them to feast offensively.
Between now and the end of the preliminary round, the Americans’ schedule looks like this:
- Match against France today
- Match against Poland tomorrow
- Game against Kazakhstan on Sunday
- Match against Latvia on Monday
We’ve seen it in Montreal this season, but Caufield tends to have more difficult sequences offensively, and he needs to avoid that right now.
I’m not ready to push the panic button just yet, but if after the next four games his performance hasn’t improved… Maybe that’ll leave more room for uncertainty than anything else.
He needs to get his mojo back, in any case.
In bursts
– Speak of the devil.
Cole Caufield & Trevor Zegras are always yappin ๐ pic.twitter.com/ZcP6pGHWI2
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 16, 2024
– Colleague Felix Forget wrote about this recently, but now it’s official:
Introducing ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐
Our 100th Season commemorative uniform will be worn up to two times this year pic.twitter.com/E0aArfsaOW
– New York Giants (@Giants) May 16, 2024
– Another goal for Oliver Kapanen at the World Championship.
ELITE SNIPER OLIVER KAPANEN ๐ซ๐ฎ
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 16, 2024
– That’s another way of looking at it.
In one of those let’s see what happens situations, Maxim Tsyplakov coming over to the NHL could just be a negotiation tactic, as the player’s agent claim they rejected Spartak’s offer because it was too low. Their priority is to get a better deal from the KHL team, not the NHL.
– Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) May 16, 2024
– Sounds promising.
Confirmed!
This Friday, May 17, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, Olivier Renard will meet members of the media for the first time since stepping down as CF Montreal’s Vice-President and Chief Athletic Officer. #CFMTL https://t.co/2YNIwOw9xc
– Nilton Jorge (@NiltonJorge) May 16, 2024