Cole Caufield (born January 2, 2001) is an American professional ice hockey winger for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the first round, 15th overall, by the Canadiens in the 2019 NHL entry draft.
Following success with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (USNTDP), Caufield played collegiately for the University of Wisconsin-Madison of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons. He won the Hobey Baker Award and was the leading goal and point-scorer for the 2020–21 NCAA season.
Internationally, Caufield has represented the United States in numerous tournaments including winning a gold medal at the U17 WHC, a silver and bronze medal at the 2018 U18 WJC and 2019 U18 WJC respectively, and a gold medal at the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
Early life
Caufield was born in Mosinee, Wisconsin, to a hockey-playing family.[1] He started skating at the age of two after seeing his older brother, Brock, skate.[2] In addition to ice hockey, Caufield also played baseball and football as a child. His father, Paul, taught him to shoot from the right as he believed that right shots have an easier angle to access a goaltender’s glove hand.[3] He played Bantam AAA ice hockey for Team Wisconsin and played for Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH), scoring 75 goals in two seasons for a total of 145 points before joining the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (USNTDP) in Plymouth, Michigan in 2017.[4][5] On November 19, 2017, he made a verbal commitment to play collegiate hockey at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[6]
In his first year with the USNTDP, Caufield led the combined U-17 and U-18 team with 54 goals and 26 assists, falling one goal short of the single season record of 55 goals set during the 2014–15 season by Auston Matthews.[7] In the 2018–19 season, he scored 72 goals and 28 assists, overtaking the all time USNTDP goal record previously held by Phil Kessel as well as Matthews’ single season goal record.[8]
Leading up to the 2019 NHL entry draft, Caufield was considered a top prospect and was ranked eighth by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau amongst North American skaters.[9][10] On June 21, 2019, he was selected in the first round (15th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens.[11] During the summer of 2019, he attended the Canadiens’ development camp
