Montreal Canadiens fans can breathe a sigh of relief. Cole Caufield has finally arrived.
The highly-anticipated debut of Caufield finally took place on Monday when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 in a crucial game. The debut was full of energy, and Habs fans couldn’t get enough of the talented young American.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t make the night a little extra special by scoring a goal (or recording an assist), but it was clearly a pretty special night as it was.
He may not have scored a goal, but he may have scored a new nickname. After the game, Jesperi Kotkaniemi posted an Instagram Story where he appeared to refer to Caufield as “Bilbo.”
Bilbo Baggins is the title character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendary novel The Hobbit. He was also featured in the follow up series, Lord of the Rings. He is the uncle of famous fictitious hobbit Lord of the Rings main character Frodo, who is tasked with trekking to Mordor to destroy the one ring to rule them all.
If the name sticks, Caufield will join the ranks of “hobbits” in the NHL. Hobbits – notably short characters Tolkein’s writings – include Martin St. Louis and Mats Zuccarello (as determined by Henrik Lundqvist).
Zucc even used it in his farewell message to St. Louis.
Caufield immediately slots in as one of the shortest players in the league, with a listed height of 5’7. While this may have been tough in the old NHL, the new NHL values skill and speed over size a lot more than it used to.
We’re guessing he’ll be JUST fine.
…as long as he doesn’t need to destroy any rings, or whatever.
(H/T John Lu)
