Don't expect Caufield to save the Habs' season
Rookie has world of potential, but on a team going nowhere, it's best to keep him in AHL
Ladles and gentians, let us inject (if we may) a wee demitasse of espresso reality into your morning Mcstarbucks Mcsludge.
These Montreal Canadiens are not very good. They're fourth in the North Division with 43 points and unlikely to move up, which probably means a date in May with the mighty Maple Leafs and a very strong possibility of a humiliating sweep at the hands of Captain Underpants and his minions.
Toss out the deceptive loser points and Dominique Ducharme's team is 17-21 and mired in a threegame losing streak. That's the reality. If you can look at that equation and see “Stanley Cup contender,” I want to buy your rose-coloured glasses.
This team is going nowhere. Not now, not this season. On paper, the Canadiens appear to have enough talent to challenge. On the ice, the only thing they challenge is your patience.
So now you want to take Cole Caufield, perhaps the most exciting Canadiens prospect since Guy Lafleur, and dump him into this very deep hole and see if he drowns?
Seriously — what's wrong with you?
Can Caufield make this team better? Absolutely.
Can he make them good enough to beat the Leafs? Absolutely not.
So the only thing that matters here is what is best for Caufield. There should be no other considerations.
Somehow, this Canadiens team is less than the sum of its parts. How do you add Tyler Toffoli, Josh Anderson, Joel Edmundson, Alexander Romanov, Jake Allen and a stunningly effective Corey Perry to your team and come up with diddly-squat? We don't have the answer.
But to expect a young man who turned 20 in January to ride to the rescue? That's somewhere between bonkers and bizarre.
Caufield needs time with Joel Bouchard, who has been doing a brilliant job. He needs to stay in Laval, get his skates wet in the pro game, mature physically and prepare himself mentally for a full season with the Montreal Canadiens beginning next October — COVID permitting.
He does not need to be put in harm's way in the form of the reckless Tom Wilsons of the NHL and their aiders and abettors in the laughable Department of Player Safety. He doesn't need the insane pressure of trying to rescue a team that is going nowhere at this stage of his career.
Sorry, but Caufield cannot alter this in any significant way. Neither can a healthy Carey Price, nor Brendan Gallagher stepping into a phone booth and emerging with his Superman cape. It won't be official until May, but these Canadiens simply aren't close enough to put Caufield's development in jeopardy.
Movin' Drouin: We've seen enough. If there is any possible way, GM Marc Bergevin needs to get the perpetually underachieving Jonathan Drouin outta town before today's trade deadline.
It won't be easy. Drouin has two seasons left on the six-year, Us$33-million deal he signed when the Canadiens acquired him, both at a salary and cap hit of $5.5 million per season.
Like the Taylor Hall who won an undeserved Hart Trophy, the Drouin who once scored 21 goals and 53 points for the Lightning has long since vanished.
Also like Hall, Drouin has all of two goals this season — and that missed empty net in the first period Saturday did not help.
With Drouin, what you see now is what you're always going to get.
At 26, he won't get better. He'll tease you with the occasional hot streak, after which he'll fade like old blue jeans. Enough.
Echoes of Expos no-hitters: I was stunned the other night when Joe Musgrove, an obscure pitcher for the San Diego Padres, tossed a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers — not because it was Musgrove but because it took so long.
The Padres, you may remember, entered the National League as an expansion franchise in 1969, the same year as the Expos. It took Bill Stoneman all of nine games to get Montreal's first no-hitter on April 17 of that year against the Phillies, a feat Stoneman would duplicate in 1972.
Charlie Lea was next to accomplish the feat, throwing a no-hitter against the Giants in 1981 before the legendary Dennis Martinez notched his “El Presidente, El Perfecto” game against the Dodgers 10 years later. You can throw in the David Palmer five-inning no-hitter in 1984 and the night in 1994 when Reggie Sanders charged the mound with Pedro Martinez five outs away from a perfect game.
But Musgrove's no-hitter was the first in Padres history. It came in San Diego's 53rd season and the teams 8,206th game — 8,197 games behind Stoneman and the Expos.
Heroes: Cole Caufield, Corey Perry, Joe Musgrove, Bill Stoneman, Charlie Lea, David Palmer, Dennis Martinez, Pedro Martinez, Shohei Ohtani &&&& last but not least, Cole Caufield — because he is so exciting to watch, he deserves to be named twice.
Zeros: Daniel Marino, Megagym 24H, Jonathan Drouin, the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez, the Department of Player Safety, George Springer, Ron Maclean, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.
Now and forever.
He doesn't need the insane pressure of trying to rescue a team that is going nowhere at this stage of his career.