Guy Lafleur’s 60-goal mark has sat there for decades, untouched and intimidating. Since Steve Shutt tied it in 1976-77 and Lafleur matched it in 1977-78, only two players have really pushed the Canadiens’ single-season goal record into the conversation: Stephane Richer with 51 in 1989-90, and Cole Caufield with 51 last season.
That’s why Caufield keeps coming up whenever this record gets mentioned. He didn’t just flirt with the number - he took a real swing at it, and he did it in the best season of his young career.
Caufield’s 51 goals last season led the Canadiens, and his 88 points left him second on the team behind Nick Suzuki. Just as important, he made a huge leap from the 37 goals he scored in 2024-25.
The bigger picture is even more encouraging for Montreal. Caufield has improved his goal total every NHL season, including the half-season he played in 2022-23. That kind of steady climb is exactly what gives this kind of record chase a pulse.
A few things have to keep breaking right for Caufield to stay on a 60-goal track. His shooting percentage was 19.8 last season, the highest of his career, and he put 258 shots on goal. That kind of finishing rate is the kind of fuel a goal chase needs.
The setup around him matters, too. Caufield, Suzuki and Slafkovský formed a top line that worked well last season, and Suzuki remains a strong fit after leading the team in assists and winning the Selke Trophy. The Canadiens are also bringing back the first power-play unit Caufield played on, and that’s no small detail: 18 of his 51 goals came with the man advantage.
If he ever gets all the way to 61, he’d be doing more than threatening Lafleur’s record. He’d be adding another line to his own Canadiens résumé, after becoming the first Montreal player in 32 years to score 40 goals in a season last year.
That said, 61 is a massive number. No NHL player scored more than 53 goals last season, and the last player to clear 61 was Auston Matthews, who scored 69 in 2023-24. So the bar is sky-high.
Still, Caufield has already shown he can climb fast. With the skill, the shot, and the linemates around him, he has the pieces to keep coming closer to that Canadiens record.
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For the Canadiens, the gamble is obvious. Keeping Montembeault gives them a chance to see if his value rises over the course of the season, but it also means carrying a goalie whose performance has already raised questions about whether he can take a meaningful step forward. If he does not, Montreal could end up spending another year searching for answers while the trade value Hughes is protecting never really materializes. [Read more 🡒]
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What stands out now is how completely Gomez has stepped away from anything tied to that chapter. He has reportedly kept his distance from Montreal-related conversations and has avoided interviews connected to the team, a sign that the experience left a deeper mark than many old hockey stories do. For Canadiens fans, it is another reminder of how quickly a promising start can turn into a painful legacy. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Linked To Another Winger Ottawa May Not Want To Lose
The Canadiens offseason shopping list may not be finished yet, and one name worth watching is Drake Batherson. Montreal is reportedly interested in the Ottawa winger if the Senators are unable to lock him up to a new contract, which would put a productive division rival squarely on the radar for a team still looking to add more punch on the wing.
Bathersons situation has the potential to shape more than one front offices plans, because Ottawa would prefer not to let a player of that caliber drift into the market. If the Senators cannot bridge the gap, Montreal could be positioned to jump in, but the real intrigue is what kind of contract talks are going on behind the scenes and whether Ottawa can keep the door from opening at all. [Read more 🡒]