At 5-foot-7, Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield is one of the shortest players in the NHL. But that hasn’t stopped Canadiens Juraj Slafkovský, his rookie teammate, from looking up to him.
When asked about his linemate after practice on Thursday, the Canadiens winger admitted to taking on a bit of a mentorship role as of late.
“I mean, I don’t feel like he’s younger than me because you look at him and he’s huge,” Caufield said about Slafkovský, who stands at 6-foot-3. “But he somehow feels like a little brother — someone I can go to to help, we talk about a lot of things and he has really good questions.”
Picking up 15 points in his last 21 games (and five in his last five) Slafkovský — who saw a noteable improvement after being promoted to Montreal’s top line alongside Caufield and Nick Suzuki — now has nine goals and 22 points over 50 games.
And despite Slafkovský being drafted first overall in 2022, Caufield, who is riding the longest point streak of his career (netting at least one point in each of his last 10 games), confirmed that the Slovakian has a very strong desire to improve.
“He’s starving. He’s always looking to get better, staying out late,” the 23-year-old explained. “He wants to come to the rink every day and push the team.”
But while both players are heating up, there’s one department in which the Wisconsin native sees himself having the edge. When asked, “Who has the better shot?” Caufield did not hesitate in his response.
“Me,” he said, laughing. “He’s still working on his.”
With a record of 21-21-8, the Canadiens are currently eight points away from the Eastern Conference’s second Wild Card spot. With a hot No. 1 line firing on all cylinders, they’ll look to improve their chances when they take on the Dallas Stars at home at 1 pm ET on Saturday.
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