Montreal Canadiens star forward Cole Caufield didn’t hold back when evaluating his playoff performance on Monday morning during the team’s locker cleanout.
“Honestly, I sucked,” said Caufield. “That’s just plain and simple. I want to be a lot better. I expect a lot more of myself and my teammates and coaches do too.
“Nowhere near satisfied with how that went. You’re getting tough matchups, but you get that all year so it’s nothing to do with that. I think I can be a lot better. There’s a long way to go.”
Caufield scored a career-high 51 goals with 88 points in 81 games during the regular season, finishing second to Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon in the Maurice “Rocket” Richard race.
He added six goals and 13 points in 19 postseason games as the Canadiens bowed out in five games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.
Caufield had just one goal in Montreal’s seven-game win over the Lightning in the opening round before responding with three goals in seven games against Buffalo. He managed two against Carolina, scoring the team’s only goal in a 6-1 loss in Game 5.
After shooting at 19.8 per cent in the regular season, Caufield dipped down to 14 per cent in the postseason with 43 shots in 19 games.
With his 50th goal of the season on April 9 against the Lightning, Caufield became the seventh player in franchise history to accomplish the feat and the first since Stephane Richer in 1989-90.
Caufield also scored 12 game-winning goals, including five overtime winners.
Since being selected 15th overall by the Canadiens in 2019, Caufield has scored 169 goals with 307 points in 368 career games.
