The future is bright with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield

MONTREAL -- With the Canadiens' season coming to an end, there was a certain sense of renewal in the air among both fans and players.

When the team gathered following a 10-2 win to close out the year, Samuel Montembeault and Brendan Gallagher were greeted by a constant chorus of cheers as they held court at center ice to thank fans for their loyal support.
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Gallagher then decided to go off script, inviting Cole Caufield, fresh off his first career hat trick, to address the crowd.
Chants of "Cole! Cole! Cole!" broke out at the Bell Centre, drowning out most of Caufield's message, which was fitting, because the most important message was the one Habs faithful were sending to their young star; they can't wait to see the next chapter in his exciting career.
"He's going to be a huge part of this organization for a long time," said Brendan Gallagher during his end-of-season media availability. "And we're going to be relying on him to be a good player, and he brought it every single night. He knew we relied on him, he enjoyed that role. It was fun to watch, I think the Bell Centre enjoyed it."

There's no denying that Caufield, like most players, struggled in the first half of the season. It's also impossible to ignore his impressive uptick in production once Martin St-Louis was brought into the fold.
First, the bad news: Caufield actually saw a 16 percent dip in assists per 60 minutes of 5v5 ice time, going from 0.5
On the other hand, he saw a 847% increase in regards to goals per 60, which, you could argue, is somewhat impressive.

"You can't let the outside noise control you," explained Caufield. "All that should matter is what the guys in the room think of you, what the coaches think of you. Control what you can control."
Returning to a free-flowing style of play, one that puts an onus on raw talent and fun, was certainly a significant reason why Caufield's production saw such an encouraging improvement, but his resurgence in the second half of the season was also bolstered by the chemistry he displayed with the team's leading scorer, Nick Suzuki.

"It's easy to play with Nick," said Caufield. "We're just going to keep getting better, and keep learning from each other and having fun along the way. He has the puck for most of the game, which is nice for everybody on our team. He drives the play, when he doesn't have the puck he helps other guys out by getting open pretty easily. He's a guy that you want to give the puck to."
The last sentence is particularly true in Caufield's case.
Like Caufield, Suzuki saw a significant increase in goals per 60, more than doubling his output over the last three months, but he also saw a 75% increase in helpers, producing 1.61 assists per 60 in that time frame, which happens to be the exact same rate at which Caufield scored goals since February 9.

"We were definitely put in a lot of different situations this year, going against top lines, playing a lot of minutes," said Suzuki. "It's going to help us in the future. I think our growth in the last half of the season has been really good, especially Cole. He scored 22 goals over the last second half."
And while the on-ice improvements are the driving force behind the encouraging note on which the Canadiens ended their season, there's also added value to the lessons learned throughout the season, which certainly had its fair share of peaks and valleys.
"You can definitely learn from it," said Suzuki. "The biggest takeaway for us, is that you can get out of it. Going through that experience is definitely good for us in the future."

Once the players started having fun, it did not take long for the fans to follow suit.
The Bell Centre quickly returned to its rightful place as the loudest and best arena in the League.
"It's a special place to play," said Suzuki. "It's an honor to play for the Canadiens. For guys that come into the team, they realize really quickly how much we meant to the whole province and the city of Montreal. It's a lot of fun playing here. Just embrace the passion the fans have for us. Try to work every day to make them happy. "
Given the overwhelmingly positive reception both Suzuki and Caufield received on a nightly basis, it's fair to say Canadiens fans are definitely happy with the progression they've seen from their young stars.