Negotiations between the Montreal Canadiens and Cole Caufield’s camp are going well, at least that’s what the club’s executive vice-president of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton, suggested in an interview with Tony Marinaro in his podcast The Sick Podcast.
The 54-year-old has established that Caufield wants contract extension talks not to be a distraction, as he’s off to a stellar start to the season with nine goals and seven assists. Overall, the little American has 31 goals and 20 assists since Martin St-Louis took charge of the bleu-blanc-rouge (52 games).
There was a time when fans traveled to the Bell Center to see the prowess of Alex Kovalev. More recently, it was for Carey Price that fanatics gathered in Mecca of hockey. Today, Cole Caufield is selling tickets. His scoring skills, paired with his charismatic personality, make him a gem that is sure to cost Gorton and Hughes dearly. A price they are willing to pay.
“I can’t tell you if it will be in a week, a month or two months, but for the people listening at home, don’t worry, Cole will be a Montreal Canadiens player for a long time,” confirmed Jeff. Gordon. “We love Cole, and Cole loves Montreal. We have a good relationship with his agent, and it’s only a matter of time.”
Captain All Destined
Marinaro and Gorton also reflected on new captain Nick Suzuki’s fiery start to the season. The one who has ten goals and nine assists in 15 games, good for eleventh in scoring in the National Hockey League (NHL), is establishing himself as the first center so sought after in Montreal for the past two decades.
“When I arrived in Montreal, I wasn’t sure there was a first center in the ranks. I remember one of the first games I watched with Kent [Hugues]Suzuki had reverse hit an opposing player. Right away, Kent and I looked at each other, and that’s when I realized he had this it-factor in his game,” says Gorton. “You watch a game like Saturday against Pittsburgh, his game is taken to another level. He is a number-1 center.
As for the captaincy, the former Bruins and Rangers is convinced that the decision to entrust the “C” to Suzuki is the right one. “The players know it, the organization knows it. [Suzuki] has been around Carey Price and Shea Weber long enough to know what it’s like to be a good leader. He’s the perfect man for the job,” Gorton concludes about number 14.
Create a winning culture
Tony Marinaro is a big proponent of rebuilds, it’s no secret. You can also hear him defend this point of view from Monday to Thursday around 5:35 p.m. during the Le Colisée segment on the JiC program. So Tony posed the question that many supporters are asking inwardly: are the Canadians failing their reconstruction? Need we remind you that the first three hopefuls at the next amateur auction, namely Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli and Matvei Michkov, are considered to be generational.
“We must not forget that there are 32 teams in the League. To obtain such a choice in the repechage, there are many elements to be taken into account, the majority of which we cannot control, ”replies the American from Boston. “What we can control is to build and establish a culture of winners.”
It also establishes that it is impossible to tell a professional athlete to lose. “I understand the fans, how nice it would be to have a top pick in the draft, but especially with Martin St-Louis behind the bench, there is not a player in the locker room who believes the game is lost. advance when you jump on the ice rink. That’s the culture we want to establish, ”adds the right arm of Kent Hughes.
“Besides, we already have a lot of very good young players, and more are coming. We have two first-round picks this year, and in those to come as well. I think we’re going to be okay,” he concludes, laughing about the reconstructions.
Not his first time
Looking at the teams that Gorton went through, you have to admit that it wasn’t necessarily the high draft picks that kept those teams competitive. Mika Zibanejad was acquired from the Senators as a young player who struggled to find his rhythm in the Canadian capital, much like Kirby Dach was taken from the Blackhawks this summer by Kent Hughes.
For their part, the Bruins are competitive year after year thanks to the standards of excellence that the Bergeron-Marchand duo have established in the locker room. It is not crazy to believe that the Suzuki-Caufield tandem has the capacity to reproduce the career of the 37 and 63.
The executive vice-president of hockey operations also wants to correct the situation vis-à-vis the popular conception that a first-round midfielder choice would be disappointing. “Look Suzuki, it’s a 13th pick. Caufield, 15th. Guhle, 16th. If the general managers redid the repechages of these years, [les trois] would all come out much higher,” he explains. “There is quality everywhere in a draft. It’s our job to find it and bring it to fruition”.
To that effect, and in connection with the Bruins, Pastrnak (25th) and McAvoy (14th) are not high draft picks either.
Speaking of high draft picks, Gorton said he’s happy with what he’s seeing from Juraj Slafkovsky. Although he admits that the Slovak giant had a quieter start to the season, he also recognizes that he was playing his best hockey before being suspended. He also had good words for Owen Beck, who is off to a stellar start to the season in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).