Quoting: Penguins_Legend_Sheary
Even Ovie doesn’t play like Caufield at 5v5. He hits, he forechecks and he wins puck battles. Caufield is too small, he’s going to have to be a Brett Hull type player and with the way the NHL is played today, there’s no guarantee he’ll remain successful.
Today he does
until he was 30 he was garbage outside his offensive game
people forget all to easy how bad he was as he'd score a goal then be responsible for the next 2 on turnovers he refused to back check on instead skating slowly to the bench
That said Caufield Defense was why he didnt start the season in Laval
Right now its the fact he's a 1 trick pony shooting from the same spot Ovi made famous
Gotta remember Ovi is Caufield Gretzky as he even adopted his number at WJC the year he tied Ovi's nearly 20 year old scoring record.
That's why i used the comparison because it feels like he's just trying to mimic Ovi instead of doing what made him 3rd in playoffs scoring for MTL's SCF
He has the ability to shoot in stride without giving up momentium and even when he doesnt scoring the rebounds it created gave him a decent amount of assists.
His quick release is how he'll have success not in standing inside the faceoffs circle in the OZ like Ovi
Our big worry is if we keep him up like Lehkonen he'll become Defense only
People forget Lehkonen came in breaking Alfredssons record over sea's in the playoffs then coming to MTL scoring 18 goals of which 6 of them and 11 points came in the final 12 games helping MTL beat out TBL that year but a single point for the last playoff spot. Put on a Offensive line with Chucky/Shaw he dominated and was 1/4 habs to show up in the playoffs with 4 points in 6 games.
Then we kept him up and when he struggled offensively instead of developing him in the AHL we put him on 3rd line in Gallagher's old spot after he took Radulov's from him 3 weeks into CJ tenure.
If you dont develop a player right a good goal scoring prospect can turning into a defensive bottom 6 back checker before their 25