Montreal Canadiens: Kaiden Guhle Has Great Chance To Make World Junior Roster
Montreal Canadiens first round pick Kaiden Guhle has been invited to Canada’s World Junior camp.
Montreal Canadiens first round pick Kaiden Guhle has found somewhere to play hockey after all.
The Western Hockey League, where Guhle plays for the Prince Albert Raiders, recently announced that they won’t be starting their their regular season until sometime in the new year. It will be about ten months after the league cancelled the end of the 2019-20 season.
One player that won’t be rusty when the WHL regular season begins is Kaiden Guhle.
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The 16th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft was just selected to Team Canada’s World Junior selection camp. The camp is a lengthy one as it will take place over 28 days in Red Deer, Alberta and begin on November 16. With the WHL and OHL still on hiatus, it makes sense to get the players together early and allow them plenty of action on the ice to shake the rust off.
These players are used to playing year round and they haven’t played a competitive game since March.
Canada invited 46 players to the camp, including Guhle who is one of 15 defencemen who will be taking part in the event. The Habs prospect is a big, physical left defenceman who also skates really well and can contribute offensively as the Junior level. He scored 11 goals and 40 points in 64 games for the Raiders last season.
It is a long list of players invited to the camp, but Guhle isn’t just there because they were allowed to invite a lot of players. He has a great chance to make the team as a left defenceman.
His toughest competition will come from Bowen Byram and Thomas Harley who were first round picks in 2019. They are both locks to make the team and will likely play the top four roles on the left side. After that, Matthew Robertson would be the next player in line looking to take a regular spot in the lineup away from Guhle.
Robertson was drafted 49th overall in 2019 by the New York Rangers. He is a good sized blue liner at 6’3″ and 205 pounds and he scored 47 points in 60 games for the Edmonton Oil Kings last season.
Even if Robertson cracks the top six, it doesn’t mean Guhle has to be cut. With the uncertainty surrounding everything going on in the hockey world right now, teams are allowed to bring an expanded roster to this year’s tournament. Teams can have eight defencemen on their roster and 14 forwards for a total of 22 skaters. That number is usually 20, so the two extra spots make it even more likely that Guhle will find a role on this team.
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He will have a long time at camp to make a name for himself. He will feel some pressure from Ryan O’Rourke and Owen Power on that left side as well, but his game puts him in a great position heading into next month’s camp. Guhle will have a difficult time wrestling top four minutes away from Harley or Byram, but he should absolutely make Canada’s team for the World Juniors.