NHL Player of the Month: Cole Caufield
Montreal’s top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovský propelled the Canadiens into the playoffs with its play to end last season. They’ve managed to keep that level up to start the 2025-26 campaign, and currently have the Habs among the best teams in the league.
Leading the way on offence is Caufield with nine goals through 11 games, a 67-goal pace over the full 82-game schedule. Three of those goals have come in overtime, meaning three of the 16 standings points the Canadiens hold were directly earned by him.
Again, someone repeatedly told me that Nick Roberston is better than Cole Caufield
I want to tell that man to eat shit
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) October 16, 2025 at 10:47 PM
The goal-scoring has always been elite in Martin St-Louis’s time as the head coach, but this year Caufield’s greatest improvements have been made on the defensive side. He’s very involved in both the defensive-zone breakout and backchecking in the neutral zone to help slow down the opposition rushes. Thanks to that, he has seen an expected-goal share of 60.9% in his five-on-five time, and Montreal outchanced opponents 82-55 in his minutes in October.
With this 200-foot performance, he’s raising his stock among the pool of American Olympic hopefuls. If the management group is actually paying attention to his play and not just believing he’s a one-dimensional offensive player, they will start to question how they can leave his top-end ability off the roster when February comes around.
Honourable mentions: Nick Suzuki and Jakub Dobeš
It’s often the case when determining which player is going to claim this monthly award that the debate comes down to which among Caufield and Suzuki was the most impressive. Last month, Caufield’s clutch goals gave him the edge, but Suzuki was even more productive with 16 points, tied for 10th-best in the NHL, and has a point in each game since the season-opener.
The team wouldn’t have nearly the record it does without the play of Jakub Dobeš. The goaltender is performing like he did in his first couple of weeks after making his debut late last December, holding a perfect 6-0-0 record to this point and a save percentage of .930. While Samuel Montembeault deals with some issues to start the year, Dobeš is making sure the quality play of the skaters doesn’t go to waste.
— Justin Blades
AHL Player of the Month: Adam Engström
With Logan Mailloux traded in the off-season, as well as both David Reinbacher and William Trudeau injured, the Laval Rocket were left with few options to help run their defence to open the season. That duty fell heavily on the shoulders of second-year blue-liner Adam Engström, and he answered the call with aplomb.
While he isn’t leading the team in scoring (that honour resides with Jared Davidson, who is tied for the AHL lead with six goals currently), his performance in the role he’s had to play throughout the opening month of the season is incredibly impressive. In his rookie season, the Swedish defenceman enjoyed some of the easier shifts to start the year, getting a favourable deployment while Trudeau and others took the defensive-zone starts. This year, there isn’t a situation where Pascal Vincent isn’t trusting Engström.
Incredible entry by Laurent Dauphin leads to an Adam Engström goal
1-0 Laval!
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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Engström has done this with a rotating cast on his pairing in seemingly every game. He’s played with Marc Del Gaizo, Nate Clurman, Tobie Bisson, Wyatte Wylie, Josiah Didier and, on Friday night. Reinbacher. All while playing as an incredibly responsible defensive outlet, without sacrificing any of his offensive game.
His smooth skating allows him to transition play in an instant, and frees him up to be a more dangerous shooting option inside the offensive zone. While he isn’t quite Mailloux as a power-play shooting threat, he finds plenty of opportunity to put pucks on net, and is second among AHL defencemen in total shots. With the Rocket defence getting healthy, it is extremely likely we’ll see more of Engström’s offensive upside in the coming weeks.
— Scott Matla
European Prospect of the Month: Alexander Zharovsky
Zharovsky made his regular-season entry into the KHL with a bang. In 12 games in October he had five goals and eight assists, making him a point-per-game player so far. This on a team that is marooned in the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 16 points in 19 games, third-last in the whole of the KHL. Three of his goals, and quite a few assists, have come on the power play. He is second in goals on the team, and second in points.
#Habs Alexander Zharovsky (97) runs the power play like it’s nobody else’s business. Second assist of the game, this time from behind the net. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/FfPeX0WpED
— Patrik Bexell (@Zeb_Habs) October 31, 2025
The good thing is that he has performed against both top teams like Metallurg and bottom teams such as Admiral, something that does speak to a more complete performance compared to Filip Eriksson, the only challenger for the top spot this month.
Zharovsky is getting decent minutes at five-on-five, plays on the power play, and has started to take faceoffs for the team as well. He’s developing slowly on a team that has a good development program.
— Patrik Bexell
North American Prospect of the Month: Michael Hage
After scoring at a point-per-game pace in 2024-25, Michael Hage is back in Michigan for another year. Through eight games in October, the centre is on track to eclipse last year’s tally comfortably.
Hage currently sits at six goals and 14 points through the first eight games of the season. Those six goals in particular stand out, as he is already almost halfway to his 13-goal benchmark from last year, with 80% of the NCAA schedule remaining. Beyond the stats, however, the Canadiens’ 21st-overall pick in 2024 is developing at an impressive rate.
His skating and playmaking still form the crux of his offensive identity; he sets up power-play cycles by building speed under the puck before combining stutter-steps with upper- and lower-body separation to bait stick-checks. From there, he evades, stops up, accelerates, and finds an outlet. Once the cycle is set up, he patrols the left flank — Suzuki’s current spot — and threads the needle cross-ice, or sets up his growing weapon of a one-timer.
Hage’s five-on-five game continues to improve. He is still exploiting his speed to overwhelm defenders wide and drive the net, but he does it with more nuanced details. He protects pucks with his lower body, fending off stick-checks by widening his stance or pushing his hip out mid-crossover. His usage of his speed itself has also improved, as he relies less on top speed and more on speed differentials. He times his accelerations into space, catching defenders off guard. This is how the fastest NHLers escape pressure, and Hage is developing that skill.
Two more goals for Michael Hage last night in a big road W for Michigan 〽️
Habs may have ANOTHER one waiting in the wings 👀 (w/ @_msfilms) pic.twitter.com/zNq2CVwTTE
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 11, 2025
Adding physical layers to his puck-carrying skill will only make Hage more projectable to the NHL. As he stands, it’s still a concern at times, as sturdy enough defenders can leverage their frame against him. If he adds that detail to his skill set, he’ll be an unstoppable transition attacker.
— Hadi Kalakeche
EOTP Players of the Month archive
