Martin St-Louis Shocks Fans with New Criticism of Cole Caufield During Press Conference

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Daniel Lucente
October 30, 2024 (5:48 PM)

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Following a team practice, head coach of the Canadiens Martin St-Louis met with reporters and shared some rather unexpected thoughts regarding Cole Caufield.

Martin St-Louis certainly had people raise their eyebrows with his comments on Cole Caufield, especially after the torrid start he had to the season. Even though he has been arguably red-hot to begin the year and leads the Canadiens with an impressive nine goals in ten games, he has surprisingly emerged as a target of criticism. It all started when analyst Pascal Leclaire mentioned that he would sit Caufield for the next game, and his comment immediately set off a firestorm of reactions. While St-Louis didn't take his critique quite that far, he did give his own critical view of Caufield's game, bringing up areas in which he needs to improve.

"I still think Cole is leaving things on the table. I think he should be scoring more goals. It's not about taking more shots; it's about where he positions himself on the ice. I'm glad he's had a strong start performance-wise, but I believe he still has a lot of work to do."

- Martin St-Louis

Interesting stuff here, getting this degree of scrutiny towards Cole Caufield, particularly with where he is in terms of pace, is quite shocking. Most would feel that a player having the lead of a team that generally struggles offensively would get nothing but praise. Martin St-Louis, though, has opted to focus on what he feels Caufield could do better rather than just celebrating what he has accomplished. His comments were neither harsh nor dismissive but seemed designed more to get Caufield to push himself further, even though the forward's performance has been well above average. Fans, however, were quick to point out that Caufield is doing his job every single night, scoring countless amount of goals, while other players slack, yet for some reason he is the one facing the criticism.

During a press conference a little over a week ago, Martin St-Louis tipped his hat to Cole Caufield's potential but also gave an indication that he felt there is even more there where he can improve. Not criticizing Caufield all that harshly, St-Louis did say the subtle suggestion that he can "score more", which, considering his current rate, seemed an odd comment to make by some. Given the overall futility on offense for the Canadiens, it's interesting St-Louis would single out Caufield as an area in need of improvement given some of his teammates are still looking to find their rhythm.

That he could even be expected to push for more on the pace he is on this season, is both a challenge and a compliment. Martin St-Louis seems clearly to think highly of Cole Caufield's abilities and almost appears using his platform as a means of pushing the forward to the heights that he is truly capable of. While some fans may be uneasy about this public criticism, it could also simply be a tactical move to motivate Caufield by setting more ambitious standards. That would be indicative, thus, of St-Louis's very high hopes for Caufield, but also for the entire team. If the team doesn't perform in the coming weeks though, it could spell trouble for St-Louis as coach of the team.

Surprising or otherwise, Martin St-Louis seemed to believe in what Cole Caufield could really achieve and knows he could do more. In fact, he seems to set the bar quite high for not only Caufield but the Canadiens altogether when he called him out publicly. Whether it pays off in the end or not, one thing is obvious, which is that big things are in store for the young scorer of the Canadiens.