What if Cole Caufield plays Kirby Dutch next year?

In the 2023-2024 season, the Canadian did not advance in the rankings, but many players took steps forward. From fate? The first trio consists of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and… Josh Anderson Juraj Slavkovsky.

The three young men demonstrated their knowledge.

Together they even formed, according to statistics, one of the most dominant trios in the NHL. the children They scored 40 goals together – and at the start of the season, they were not playing on the same page.

Juraj Slafkovsky & Nick Suzuki & Cole Caufield had one of the best lines in the NHL this season.

👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/UNW4kBmW2R

– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) April 22, 2024

Obviously when we play as a group 'who will be in the top six at the club in 2024-25', the three gentlemen's names come up all the time. normal.

There are also people who have put Alex Newhook, Joshua Roy or Joel Armia into the discussion… although no one would be surprised to see them playing on a third line instead.

But if there's one name that often comes up in the discussion, it's Kirby Dutch. If he gets healthy and picks up where he left off in camp, he will earn his spot as the club's No. 2 center.

He will fight, in my opinion, for the first central minutes. Will he get there? #Steal the chair

What is interesting is who will play with Dutch on the second line. Will we give him two players who were not in the first line in 2023-2024 or will the first three be dismissed?

arbon paso, In his daily notebookaddressed the topic in particular.

I'm the first to say that I wouldn't be surprised to see Slav and Dash playing together. They have great chemistry together and Slav took some time to recover from the center injury last October.

But at the same time, why break a formula that obviously works well in the first line?

However, the idea of ​​Dach playing with one of the top three forwards in the 2023-2024 season is a fair one. To help him develop to his full potential, he will need good players alongside him.

We agree on that.

However, if we flip the question around, we can ask whether, instead of giving Slavkowski to Dutch, we couldn't give him a guy like Cole Caufield.

At first glance, this might seem counterproductive, considering that the chemistry between him and the Captain is important. However, the more time passes, the more we realize that Slav also has a good relationship with the midfielder. They are talented players and play well together.

If Suzuki played with Slave and Caufield with Dutch, every little player would become a big man. Additionally, Caufield might like playing with a player who loves passing the ball just as much.

I'm not saying it will definitely happen. However, during training camp, I have no doubt that Dutch will be tested along with Slave and Caufield, just to see.

The other part of the equation would be to interpolate the possible dualities (Will Alex Newhook be on the third line or on the wing to start the season?), but if the club has the players who can rely on the Dutch/Caufield duo, I wouldn't say no to the test.

In my opinion the two could go off together.

Let's mention that there is still time to test things for CH. Expectations for 2024-2025 will be higher, but no one expects to see the Canadian win the Cup in, say, 2025.

MSL will need to figure out what they have in Dach, who will come into next camp as an enigma in some ways.

a lot of

– A nice addition.

– Dave Hakstol returns to Seattle?

– Logan Thompson is in action tonight.

-With a reason.

– It ended for him in New York.