The Montreal Canadiens announced Sunday that forward Cole Caufield is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Caufield played in Saturday night’s preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs but was pulled after warmups before today’s intrasquad scrimmage.
Head coach Dominique Ducharme confirmed Sunday that Caufield’s injury isn’t serious, and his absence remains mainly precautionary. That’s good news for Canadiens fans, as Caufield still projects to slot in with Nick Suzuki on Montreal’s top line to begin the season.
Caufield netted a combined 17 points in 30 games between his regular season and playoff contests in 2020-21 and will improve on those totals this season, in all likelihood. He’ll undoubtedly see more than the 13:58 average ice time he saw last season.
Montreal has already struggled mightily with injuries to core pieces heading into training camp. Aside from captain Shea Weber being expected to miss the entire season, Carey Price and Mike Hoffman are both dealing with shorter-term injuries but could be out for the start of the season.
Caufield projects to be one of the favorites to take home the Calder Trophy this season along with a strong class of rookies. Last season, Caufield also scored 52 points in just 31 games while at the University of Wisconsin, along with five points in seven games for the United States at the World Junior Championships.
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