Last week, Cole Caufield indicated to his coach at the University of Wisconsin, Tony Granato, that he was ready to have that conversation, the one that was always coming, the one he had hoped all season would be different than the one he planned on having that day.



Caufield was going to tell his coach he was coming back to school for his sophomore season.



He had spoken with the Canadiens, who took him with the No. 15 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, and though it was not how he originally wanted things to turn out, this was the way it was going to be. He had seen his good friend Alex Turcotte sign an entry-level contract with the Los Angeles Kings. He had seen teammate and fellow first-round NHL draft pick K’Andre Miller do the same with the New York Rangers. But he had also seen this was not how his immediate future would play out, because the Canadiens considered it best for his development that he return to school.



Caufield accepted it, informed his...