Cole Caufield Reveals What Makes Montreal Canadiens Fans So Special

Cole Caufield at the 2026 NHL Heritage Classic in Canadiens gear© Instagram/@colecaufield

Cole Caufield has no shortage of things to say about Montreal. The Canadiens forward, locked in on an eight-year, $62.8 million deal through 2030-31, sat down with E.J. Hradek on NHL Network's “NHL Tonight: First Shift” this week and opened up about the fan base that drives him. Last season's Eastern Conference Final run left a mark on the entire group. Now, with a young core committed to the city for years, the belief inside the locker room is clearly building.

Caufield on Montreal's Fans: “They Deserve to See a Winning Team”

Playing in Montreal is not something Caufield takes lightly. When Hradek asked about the fan connection, the 25-year-old didn't dress it up.

“It's really a feeling like no other,” Caufield said. “I tell everybody to try and experience it once if they could and to be a part of that city during that time, it makes you really want to get back to that moment and definitely pushes our group a lot to get back there. There's no better feeling than seeing the fans so passionate, and they deserve to see a winning team.”

That kind of statement carries weight when you consider where the Canadiens were just two or three seasons ago. Montreal's run to the Eastern Conference Final last spring was the proof of concept the fan base had waited for. It reminded everyone inside the Bell Centre what playoff hockey in that city feels like, and by Caufield's account, the players felt every bit of it.

He didn't stop there. “It's pretty special times in Montreal right now. With the guys that we have locked up for the next couple years, it's pretty special, and you can just tell those guys wanna be there and really push each other every day to be better, and it's just a really contagious feeling in Montreal right now.”

That kind of locker room atmosphere is not always guaranteed on a roster in transition. For the Canadiens, it sounds like the mood has genuinely shifted.

Playoff Lessons and a Wisconsin Rink That Started It All

Caufield also reflected on what last year's postseason run taught this group. His answer was blunt.

“I think the playoff run was huge,” he said. “Just getting in the playoffs doesn't matter who you play, you gotta beat the team at some point, and obviously only one team wins, so you're back to the drawing board, back to work.”

No sugarcoating. No moral victories. Just a competitive forward who knows what the next step requires.

The conversation also circled back to where it all began for Caufield. His father ran a rink back home in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. “We were pretty fortunate, my dad ran a rink in our hometown, that definitely helps,” he said. “We would have to clean the locker rooms and scrub the floors to get ice time.”

That setup, unglamorous as it sounds, gave Caufield and his brother hours of ice time most kids never get. Competing against each other daily sharpened his game in ways no structured practice fully replicates. He called it “the best.” Hard to argue with that, given where it led.

Caufield's path from scrubbing locker rooms in Wisconsin to becoming Montreal's $62.8 million cornerstone says something about the player. And his words about the city's fans say something about the team's direction.