Cole Caufield today: Canadiens winger earns NHL Second All-Star Team spot

For hockey fans in Canada, Cole Caufield’s selection is more than another postseason honour on an NHL list. It puts a Montreal Canadiens forward back in one of the league’s most visible end-of-season conversations after a 51-goal campaign. The NHL announced Friday that Caufield was named to the 2025-26 NHL Second All-Star Team after producing 88 points in 81 games for Montreal. His season included career highs in goals, points, plus-minus, power-play production and game-winning goals.

Context & Background

The NHL’s postseason All-Star Teams are voted on by representatives of the Professional Hockey Writers Association at the end of the regular season. That matters because this is not a fan vote or a mid-season showcase; it is a league-wide assessment of the best performers by position after the full schedule has played out.

Caufield’s case was built on goal scoring and discipline. The Canadiens said he scored 51 goals and added 37 assists, while setting career highs in power-play goals with 11, power-play points with 29 and game-winning goals with 12. That last number led the NHL, which shows how often his scoring directly decided games rather than merely adding to the totals.

NHL Second All-Star Team

An end-of-season honour naming the league’s second-best group of players by position, based on voting after the regular season.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

An NHL award for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.

Game-winning goal

The goal that gives a team the final lead it never gives back in a victory.

Here's What Happened

The NHL named Caufield as the Second Team left wing alongside Colorado Avalanche centre Nathan MacKinnon and Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak. The Second Team defence pair was Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers and Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, with Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals in goal.

For Montreal, the headline number is Caufield’s 51 goals. NHL.com’s Canadiens release said the 25-year-old became the first Canadiens player to reach the 50-goal mark in a season since Stéphane Richer in 1989-90. That is the kind of marker that carries weight in Montreal because it links Caufield’s season to a scoring standard the club had not reached in more than three decades.

Across the full league announcement, Caufield finished second in left-wing voting with 564 points, behind Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson at 716. Caufield received 80 first-place votes, 43 second-place votes and 35 third-place votes at left wing. He also appeared in right-wing voting, finishing fifth there with 40 points, which reflects how voters recognized his season even across positional ballots.

The First All-Star Team featured Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Jason Robertson, Cale Makar, Zach Werenski and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The NHL noted that Kucherov, McDavid, Vasilevskiy and Werenski had all won major trophies in 2025-26, placing Caufield’s Second Team selection in a field dominated by players with elite statistical seasons and major award recognition.

The Response

The Canadiens framed the honour around both Caufield’s production and his discipline. The club noted that among the NHL’s top 25 points leaders, Caufield had the fewest penalty minutes with 14. That detail explains why his season also earned the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability

TSN also highlighted that Caufield, Bouchard, Dahlin and Thompson were all named to an NHL end-of-season All-Star team for the first time. For Caufield, that first selection lands at a meaningful point: he is no longer being discussed only as a promising scorer, but as a player whose full-season output placed him among the league’s top wingers.

The Bigger Picture

Caufield’s selection gives the Canadiens a clear individual benchmark from a season that also included recognition for other Montreal names in NHL voting. Nick Suzuki received votes at centre, while Lane Hutson appeared prominently in defence voting. The broader signal is that Montreal had several players noticed by hockey writers, but Caufield’s place on the Second Team was the strongest league-wide finish among Canadiens skaters listed in the voting results.

For Canadian fans beyond Quebec, the list also carries national interest. McDavid led the First Team at centre after a 138-point season, while Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard joined Caufield on the Second Team after a 95-point year from the blue line. That places Canadian-market players in several major spots on the league’s postseason teams.

The Caufield number that will travel furthest is still 51. A 50-goal season is a simple, durable benchmark, and the Richer comparison gives it historic weight in Montreal. It also changes the way opponents and fans read Caufield’s profile: his value is not only volume scoring, but decisive scoring, power-play production and unusually low penalty minutes for a top offensive player.

The Road Ahead

The NHL’s official records site lists First and Second All-Star Team rosters by season going back to their inception in 1930-31. Caufield’s 2025-26 Second Team selection will now be part of that record.

For Montreal, the confirmed takeaway is straightforward: Caufield enters the offseason with a 51-goal year, a Lady Byng Trophy and his first NHL postseason All-Star Team honour.