ORNSKOLDSVIK, Sweden -- Inside the left faceoff circle and just below the dot, as the U.S. men's national under-18 team finishes its warm-up, Cole Caufield stands next to a blob of pucks. He slides each puck to his stick and fires off shot after shot into the opposite corner of the net. The best goal scorer in the 2019 NHL draft class won't miss any opportunity to shoot the puck.
Over the course of this season, Caufield scored 72 goals in 64 games for the U18 team at USA Hockey's National Team Development Program. He rewrote every section of the NTDP's goal-scoring record book, leaving distance between himself and many players who have gone on to become NHL stars.
To say this is an unprecedented level of scoring is putting it in the mildest of terms. His season total shattered the previous single-season record at the NTDP, Auston Matthews' 55 set during the 2014-15 season. And Caufield almost tied the record last season, scoring 54 as a U17 player. His 126 career goals over his two seasons at the Michigan-based NTDP dwarfs the 104 goals Phil Kessel scored over his two seasons there.
"It's safe to say it's an NTDP record that won't be broken for a lot of years," says Jack Hughes, Caufield's linemate and projected No. 1 pick of the 2019 NHL draft, of the 72-goal season. "To see a guy like that do it, just a pure hockey player who just loves the game, it's special."
Included in the 72-goal output were the 14 Caufield scored over seven games as Team USA won the bronze medal at the recent IIHF World Under-18 Championship. That tied none other than Alex Ovechkin, perhaps the greatest goal scorer in NHL history, for the single-tournament record.
The only season in the 2000s that might be more impressive than Caufield's 2018-19 onslaught: John Tavares scoring 72 goals in the OHL as a 16-year-old. He'd later go No. 1 overall in the 2009 NHL draft. Aside from that absurd accomplishment, there aren't many campaigns to compare to what Caufield did this season. But because he is 5-foot-6¾ and 162 pounds at NHL Central Scouting's last measurement, scoring goals by the boatload seems to be the only way to get the attention he deserves.
For a while, the conversation was whether Caufield would go in the first round. According to the NHL's records, there are two players who were listed at 5-foot-7 and went in the first round. The first was Ken Hicks in 1967, who went third overall to the California Golden Seals but never played an NHL game. The other was Kailer Yamamoto, who went 27th overall to the Edmonton Oilers in 2017. He spend 2018-19 mainly in the AHL, suiting up for Edmonton 17 times and recording only two points.
Regardless of all that, the conversation today is less about whether Caufield goes in the first round and more about how high he might climb. An informal poll of United States-based NHL scouts suggested he's a certain lottery pick and a probable top-10 pick. Some of those same scouts hedged a lot more when the subject was previously discussed. When Caufield is selected, he'll probably become the shortest first-rounder in the NHL's record books.
There are countless other examples, however, of smaller players not getting selected until the second or even the middle rounds -- or not at all -- because of size. Though many of them, like fourth-rounder Johnny Gaudreau (5-9) and sixth-round pick Cam Atkinson (5-8), are changing people's minds, none had seasons like Caufield did when they were draft eligible.
The closest comparable is Alex DeBrincat (5-7), who had two 50-plus goal seasons in the Ontario Hockey League and still went 39th overall in the 2016 NHL draft. Only three players in his draft class have more goals than DeBrincat, and he has played one fewer season than each of those ahead of him. Multiple scouts said if they had a do-over, DeBrincat probably would go in the top five, especially after his 41-goal effort with the Chicago Blackhawks this season. That doesn't do DeBrincat much good now, but it certainly is going to help Caufield's draft status.
"Guys like DeBrincat and Atkinson have helped the smaller guys in the league. It helps guys like me, and gives me more drive to be the best I can be," Caufield says.
Caufield says he models his game after DeBrincat, the Blackhawks' new star winger. The ability to find space and absolutely wire a puck are among the easy comparables aside from size and nationality. He has a natural scoring instinct that might even rival DeBrincat, who graduated from the OHL as one of the league's top 10 all-time scorers.
"With Cole, it's a combination of things," says John Wroblewski, who coached Caufield the past two seasons with the U.S. team. "For truly great players, it has to be a mix, and he's got it. It's the truest stick I've ever seen coming through the NTDP. Everything that comes off of it is pure. But there's something else there. It's a burning desire to play the game. True enjoyment and elation every time the puck goes into the net. That combination is pretty deadly."
Caufield also contends that there's more to him than scoring. While he's not going to be putting people through the boards, there is no fear in his game. He goes to the hard areas and attacks the opposition with tenacity. His puck skills are high-end, with an ability to make defenders miss and create extra space for himself. The vision that allows him to be a deadly scorer also allows him to find teammates with good passes.
As Wroblewski noted, the pure touch Caufield possesses allows for precision in just about everything he does. He's also a pest in puck pursuit, with an ability to get under players and get the puck back. Playing a schedule primarily against older, stronger competition showed that Caufield, who is slated to head to the University of Wisconsin next season, can play at any level you need him to and have success. But there's no doubt the reason he'll be a NHL player is because of his remarkable goal-scoring talent.
It didn't really matter much whom Caufield played this season. The puck was going in the net. The small sniper scored 14 goals in 16 games against NCAA Division I opponents, 29 in 28 contests against USHL teams and 29 in 17 games against international foes, which he exclusively played against in his own age group. Even dating to Caufield's high school hockey career, when he played for Stevens Point Area High School in Wisconsin, he had 50 goals in 22 games as a sophomore. He has always been able to find the back of the net.
Some might say Caufield is just a product of his linemate, probable top pick Hughes, similar to the way DeBrincat was knocked for skating with would-be No. 3 overall pick Dylan Strome in the OHL. But while Hughes is one of the best playmakers in this draft class and an incredible set-up man, Caufield still scored when Hughes wasn't on the roster. In the few weeks Hughes was off playing at the World Juniors, Caufield still had six goals in six games.
In fact, playing with high-end players is actually great for development. Hughes plays the game at such a pace that if you don't have the hockey sense or the speed to keep up, he's not going to be able to look your way as much.
"The stuff he does at top speed is just crazy," Caufield says of Hughes. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone else do that. He's hard to play with, I've told people that before. You just have to have the brain to match his. I think that's come along. We've built some teamwork and chemistry."
Hughes set the NTDP's all-time points record, which probably would have been a lot harder to do without a dynamic finisher on his wing.
"With Cole, the way he scores, if you give him two good looks he'll score on at least one of them," Hughes says. "He's got an unreal shot to start with and his drive to score every game -- if he's not scoring, after a game, he's pissed. For me to play with a guy like Cole, it makes my life real easy."
Caufield is popular with his teammates, with a fun-loving attitude to go along with his killer instinct on the ice. It's rare to see him without a smile on his face. The joy of the game is certainly worn on his sleeve.
"He works really hard off the ice," U18 teammate John Beecher says. "He's crafted his shot. You always see him in the shooting room before practice. He deserves every goal that he gets."
And perhaps the biggest reason Caufield might soon take his special scoring ability to the NHL is he and Hughes have never been truly satisfied.
"We're always wanting more," he says. "We always want to be the best we can be."
The question now becomes which team is willing to use an early pick this June to unlock another level of Caufield's immense talent.