Cole Caufield: his state of health may be worrying

All in all, the Habs played a solid game last night against the Chicago Blackhawks, despite a quiet start.

Martin St-Louis’ team woke up after Jayden Struble’s showdown.

Two points were added to the Habs’ record, and they are now three points out of the playoffs.

It’s pretty impressive to see the Tricolore so close to a playoff spot, despite all the injuries and the current lineup, which is pretty shaky.

Let’s just say that the Habs really don’t need any more injuries right now.

So it’s only natural that we’re quick to worry when we see Cole Caufield retreat to the locker room and miss a few appearances, even though he’s finally back on the bench.

Caufield looked pretty bad after his contact with Hawks defender Isaak Phillips.

He retreated to the bench with some difficulty, which is never good to see.

With his shoulder operation last summer, it’s clear that we’re concerned whenever we see the young free-scorer bothered by pain of any kind and miss a few appearances.

Let’s hope it’s more fear than harm, given that Caufield was able to get back into the game and even pick up an assist on Nick Suzuki’s third-period goal.

In Caufield’s absence, Jesse Ylönen and Emil Heineman got starts on the first line, and both looked good.

Ylönen looked very good, picking up an assist on Juraj Slafkovsky’s goal.

I’ll say it again, but Jesse Ylönen really deserves a chance in the top-6 right now, especially with all the injuries.

Giving him more ice time wouldn’t cost Martin St-Louis anything. He was on the ice for 12 minutes and 30 seconds last night.

The same goes for Emil Heineman, who played less than six minutes in his NHL debut Thursday night in Minnesota.

It was better yesterday, when St-Louis played Heineman for 9 minutes and 43 seconds.

In short, the numerous injuries should give the youngsters a good chance to make their mark.

Coming back to Caufield, let’s hope he’ll be okay, and that the Christmas break will allow him to recover to 100%.

In Squall

– Not to be missed today.

– Wow.

– What do you know.

A true beer league nightmare…

Do you have any beer league horror stories? https://t.co/GtgNS3kLEt

– BarDown (@BarDown) December 23, 2023

– Movement on the Minnesota Wild staff.

– The former Devils and Panthers star is having fun in the KHL.

– To be continued.