Pierre-Antoine Mercier, translated by Matt Cudzinowski | August 6, 2019

It's well documented that the Canadiens' first-round pick in 2019 can score goals, but few people know that he can also predict the future.

MONTREAL - Cole Caufield actually began preparing to play for the NHL's winningest franchise a long time ago.

Even if experts were stunned to see the youngster still available at the No. 15 spot in June's NHL Draft, Caufield wasn't, knowing full well that the selection belonged to Montreal.

Truth be told, the 18-year-old American was ready to don a Canadiens jersey for quite some time. That's why he didn't choose to study Spanish in school like the rest of his friends.

"Our two boys [Cole and his older brother, Brock] chose a French class when they were in Grade 7. They said that if they were drafted by the Canadiens, they'd have to be able to speak the language. They were always joking about it, but they were still preparing themselves in case it happened," explained Cole's mother, Kelly, with a laugh. "They ended up taking four years of French. It's funny because all of their friends chose a Spanish class. You could say that my boys kind of predicted the future."