Interesting week in the NHL, with the Boston Bruins active, while the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning punched their tickets to the Stanley Cup Final.
For many B's fans, this is a pick-your-poison scenario, as the Bolts are looking to repeat after knocking Boston out a year ago and finishing off the New York Islanders in a seven-game semifinal series that went down to the wire Friday. The Canadiens got stellar play in net from Carey Price and key contributions from key veterans like Corey Perry and Paul Byron, but the story of the series was electric rookie sniper Cole Caufield.
How did the diminutive Wisconsin native slip to 15th overall in the 2019 NHL draft with his rifle release and ability to score from anywhere? Draft watchers are already looking at where he would go in a re-do of the first round. The B’s had no shot at Caufield, and so it will fall to other teams and their fans in front of Montreal to wonder what might have been. Caufield is the U.S. National Team Development Program’s all-time goal scorer with 126 tallies (breaking Phil Kessel’s record of 104) in just two seasons before scoring another 50 in two years with the University of Wisconsin. He’ll fill the net in the NHL.
