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When the Habs first took Caufield along on their road trip, it was expected he would only miss one game, but a couple of games of the Rocket’s calendar have been reschedule and Caufield will now miss 3 AHL games. If the Habs are not going to play him, they should send him back on the charter that is currently taking Charlie Lindgren to Edmonton to join the taxi squad.
As of right now, it doesn’t look like the Canadiens intend to do that. If that’s the case, it’s time to pull the trigger and give Caufield a shot in the NHL. I’m sick of hearing about the recall limit. The limit if for discretionary recalls, in case of injuries, even if they are out of discretionary recalls, they still have emergency recalls.
And yes, the money can work. It’s at Paul Byron’s expanse, but it can still work. By sending Byron to the taxi squad, there is more than enough room to insert Caufield in the line-up. The direct consequence will be that no one can be recall from the taxi squad unless there is an injury. Meaning that Byron, Evans and everyone else on there will be stuck there until the end of the season if there are no injuries. I had suggested this course of action in my blog yesterday and Arpon Basu suggested it as well in his article for the Athletic this morning.
For the record, I like Byron, but this team is dying for goals and Caufield could help. Byron is a penalty killing specialist, but there are a few of those on the team. Caufield could slot in on a power play that is miserable lately and the unproductive Drouin could be taken off the power play. Of course, that would also mean that Caufield would finish the season in the NHL but why not?
Simply put, Caufield is the Canadiens’ most prized prospect and he needs to play, not just to shadow NHL players when he could be playing pro hockey in the AHL. Bergevin said earlier in the season that it was his job to take the hard decisions, well go on then, I dare you Bergy...