Caufield hits 50 goals
Montreal’s Cole Caufield scored his 50th goal of the season, a milestone that got a big social‑media celebration and highlights across platforms. (Hitting 50 goals is a rare scoring benchmark and a clear signal of his elite finishing this year.) (x.com)
Cole Caufield got his 50th goal on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Montreal had not seen one player reach that number in a season since Stéphane Richer did it in 1989-90. The Canadiens won the game 2-1, with Juraj Slafkovsky scoring the late winner. (apnews.com) Caufield is 25, plays right wing, and Montreal drafted him 15th overall in 2019 after he scored 126 goals in 123 games for the United States National Team Development Program under-18 team. He arrived with one clear label: scorer. (nhl.com) His National Hockey League totals before this season showed the climb in plain numbers: 23 goals in 2021-22, 26 in 2022-23, 28 in 2023-24, and 37 in 2024-25. This season he jumped to 50 goals and 87 points in 78 games, with a shooting percentage above 20 percent. (espn.com) That jump matters in Montreal because the Canadiens are one of hockey’s oldest franchises, and even there 50-goal seasons are scarce. Caufield joined a short club that includes Richer, Vincent Damphousse, Guy Lafleur, Pierre Larouche, Yvan Cournoyer, Bernie Geoffrion, Maurice Richard, and Dick Irvin. (apnews.com) He did not reach 50 in a lost season either. Montreal beat Tampa Bay for its sixth straight win on Thursday, and the club has been pushing for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot in the final days of the regular season. (apnews.com) The timing also makes Montreal’s 2023 bet on him look sharp. The Canadiens signed Caufield to an eight-year extension worth $62.8 million, with an average annual value of $7.85 million, and that deal runs through 2030-31. (nhl.com) For years, the knock on Caufield was size, because he is listed at 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds. Fifty goals is the bluntest answer a scorer can give to that argument. (hockey-reference.com) Now the number beside his name is not 37 or 40 but 50, and in hockey that is a different shelf entirely. Montreal spent three decades waiting for another season like this, and it finally got one from the winger it picked in the middle of the first round. (apnews.com)
