How Can Cole Caufield Find His Confidence Again?

Biron stated that when his former teammate Daniel Briere used to have scoring slumps, he would go onto the ice and shoot a bunch of pucks from different spots around the offensive zone to just get the feel of seeing the puck hit the net without a goalie being there. He said that for Briere that’s what worked, but it can be different for everyone. However, Biron feels that Briere’s approach was one of the simplest and easiest ways to do it.

This might be the way for Caufield to get out of a slump, as it will allow him to get a feel for the puck properly. Of course, that could be only if he doesn’t end his slump tonight, for all we know he could end his struggles with a big performance tonight. The one thing for sure is that Caufield can’t be afraid to just release his shot; unlike many players in the playoffs, it doesn’t feel like grinding his way to a goal is the way to go. Instead, he will need to continue doing what he does best and get back to basics by just releasing the puck. If someone scores those gritty goals on his line, it will be Josh Anderson or Juraj Slafkovsky depending on who is with him and Nick Suzuki.

Yes, Caufield isn’t much smaller than Brendan Gallagher, but he can’t handle that contact in front of the net, as he’s always played more of a perimeter game, and it has always worked out for him. In my honest opinion, Biron’s mention of Briere is an incredibly smart idea for Caufield if he really can’t get out of this slump after Game 3, because he is a born shooter, and no matter what else he can do for the team during these struggles won’t matter.

It’s no coincidence that he hit 50 goals this year; he is an incredible scorer who knows how to pick his spots as well as anyone. Unfortunately, the Lightning got into his head, which led to a rough Game 1 vs. the Sabres. Luckily, there is more space for him in this series to just shoot the puck. The true solution for Caufield at this point should be to just fire the puck, and eventually one will go in. Then once one goes in, many more should follow, as they do for all pure goal scorers.

Do you like the technique that Daniel Briere used to get out of slumps of just shooting a bunch of pucks, or would you use a different technique to help Caufield bounce back?