Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield will miss the rest of the regular season as he will need surgery on his right shoulder.
The team made the announcement on Saturday morning, explaining that the American should go under the knife “in the near future”. No deadline for a return to play has yet been specified.
See the reactions of CH coach Martin St-Louis in the main video.
The 22-year-old had been playing with this injury for a long time. That didn’t stop him from setting a career high with 26 goals. Caufield also led the CH in this column in addition to having added 10 assists for a total of 36 points in 46 games.
“It’s a big loss for us,” explained defender David Savard in an interview with TVA Sports. He was a guy who brought a lot of passion. He loves to play, he loves being in the bedroom, he loves everything regarding the game. It will be difficult to replace him. It’s impossible to replace a guy with an infectious smile like that.
“He is a young man who loves to play. He didn’t want that to happen, he tried to keep going as long as possible hoping it would get better with time. I think he saw that there was just a negative to continue, that there was a possibility that it would get worse,” added the Quebecer, who explained that the whole organization was aware of his health glitches.
Press briefings by N. Suzuki, J. Harris, J. Anderson and D. Savard –
Belzile recalled
On Friday, it was Caufield’s contract negotiations that caused the talk, and the player himself commented on them at a press briefing.
“It’s all over the place, you hear regarding it. I want to get away from it. It will happen when it happens. But obviously I like playing here, I like this team and this group of players. I’m taking it one step at a time. But yes, I’m thinking regarding it,” he mentioned, according to “Le Journal de Montréal”.
The Wisconsin native will become a restricted free agent at the end of this campaign. He had 84 points, including 53 goals, in his first 123 National League games.
To make up for the loss of the dynamic forward, the Canadian recalled forward Alex Belzile from the Laval Rocket. The captain of the Habs school club has not played in the National Hockey League this season. He had 25 points in 29 AHL games.
Jonathan Drouin’s name was also added to the injured list, retroactive to January 16. The Quebecer missed the team’s last two duels.
LCN: Renaud Lavoie comments on Cole Caufield’s injury –