The Montreal Canadiens have received blow after blow this season as they languish near the bottom of the league. The Canadiens are in contention for the first overall pick after winning last year's draft lottery.

However, one bright spot has been the emergence of young star Cole Caufield. The 22-year-old is a restricted free agent this summer, but the team will try their best to keep him from reaching restricted free agency.

“One thing for sure is we want to keep Cole Caufield long term and I think Cole Caufield wants to stay with us long term,” Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said on Wednesday.

In 45 games this season, Caufield has 26 goals, which leads all Canadiens skaters. His 36 points are good for second on the team, one behind captain Nick Suzuki.

The Canadiens drafted the 22-year-old with the 15th pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. He made his NHL debut in the 2020-21 season and has helped the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

It isn't clear how close the two sides are on a contract extension. However, NHL insider Darren Dreger reports the two sides have engaged on preliminary contract talks.

“My understanding is that the preliminary talks of an extension between Cole Caufield's agent, Pat Brisson, and the Montreal Canadiens started roughly a month ago,” Dreger said on Tuesday.

Keeping Caufield would be huge for the Canadiens. They are no strangers to dealing with offer sheets, whether its them signing a player to one, or one of there's signing one with another team.

In 2019, the Canadiens signed Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet. Carolina matched the offer, retaining their star player. Montreal allowed forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes back in September 2021.