Canadiens Top Prospects Countdown: #5 Kaiden Guhle

Montreal Canadiens general manager has compiled a long list of prospects. We are counting down the top 30.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin has focused on the draft for the past three years to build up his prospect pool. He loaded up on picks for the past three years and has another boatload of selections to make next year.

This has led to the Canadiens having a great group of prospects. With the offseason well underway and next season still more of a question mark than anything else, we are digging deep into the future of the franchise.

So, we have been counting down the Canadiens Top 30 prospects.

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This list so far looks like this: 30th Jack Gorniak, 29th Jacob LeGuerrier, 28th Otto Leskinen, 27th Rafael Harvey-Pinard, 26th Jack Smith, 25th Jacob Olofsson, 24th Lukas Vejdemo, 23rd Alexander Gordin, 22nd Blake Biondi, 21st Rhett Pitlick, 20th Joni Ikonen, 19th Brett Stapley, 18th Joel Teasdale, 17th Gianni Fairbrother, 16th Cam Hillis, 15th Luke Tuch, 14th Josh Brook, 13th Jan Mysak, 12th Sean Farrell, 11th Cale Fleury, 10th Noah Juulsen, 9th Jayden Struble, 8th Jesse Ylonen, 7th Jordan Harris and 6th was Ryan Poehling.

There have already been some terrific prospects on this list but now we finally reach the cream of the crop. Players like Jayden Struble, Cale Fleury, Noah Juulsen and Jordan Harris all have the potential and skills to be future top-four defencemen in the NHL, but they couldn’t quite crack the top five. Jan Mysak, Sean Farell, Jesse Ylonen and Ryan Poehling could all be fixtures on a team’s top nine in the near future, but they couldn’t quite sneak into the Habs top five prospects either.

It just shows the incredible depth in this prospect pool.

We inch closer to the top of the countdown with the Canadiens 5th best prospect, according to our sites rankings, Kaiden Guhle. He was ranked as low as 8th on my list and as high as 4th on Scott Cowan’s ranking. Teddy Elliott placed him 6th among Habs prospects and Sebastian High had Guhle at number 5, which is where he ended up on the consensus list.

Guhle was, of course, the Canadiens first round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. They snatched him with the 15th overall selection, with Marc Bergevin wasting no time to get to the virtual podium to announce the pick when the Habs were on the clock.

The reasons for liking Guhle’s game are plentiful. The most obvious is his size and position. The Canadiens need a couple of players to step up and take on a big role on the left side of the defence in the near future. Ben Chiarot and Brett Kulak have two years left on their deals, and aren’t exactly superstars to begin with. Upgrading the left D is a huge priority for Marc Bergevin.

Of course, teams don’t draft solely based on position so there is much more to Guhle the place he plays in the lineup. He is a large individual at 6’3″ and 187 pounds and will continue to grow and fill out that large frame considering he is just 18 years old. Targeting players with size has clearly been a priority for Bergevin this offseason and Guhle brings plenty of it.

Again, while size is great, the most important thing for a first round pick is to be a skilled hockey player and Guhle absolutely fits that description.

Guhle was the first overall selection in the WHL Draft back in 2017 after a terrific prep school season in Edmonton. He grew up just outside of Edmonton in Sherwood Park, Alberta but played prep school for Okanagan Hockey Academy (OHA) in Alberta’s capital for two seasons. He scored 17 goals and 40 assists in 30 games for their Bantam program before being selected first overall by the Prince Albert Raiders.

Guhle then played the next season with the OHA’s Midget program and scored just over a point per game while playing against players two years older than himself. He also got his first taste of WHL life as he played for eight games with the Raiders. In the WHL, the draft is done when player’s are still only 14 years old so they aren’t even eligible to step right into the WHL since they aren’t old enough. They can only join their WHL team at the conclusion of their Midget season, which Guhle did for a handful of contests.

The Canadiens most recent first rounder really broke out for the Raiders this past season. He scored 11 goals and 40 points in 64 games showing he has some offensive tools, while being a force defensively and a pain in the side for any opposing player who dares touch the puck in the Raiders defensive zone.

Guhle’s skills have long since caught the attention of Hockey Canada. He suited up at both the Ivan Hlinka and World Under-17 Tournament when he was draft eligible. He scored three points in six games at the Under-17 and added an assist in five games at the Ivan Hlinka while playing a shutdown position.

Guhle is currently at Canada’s World Juniors camp, vying for a spot on the team. He seems to have a pretty good chance of landing a role with Canada, and doesn’t turn 19 until January, so he will be eligible to suit up for Canada at the next two World Juniors.

Once there, he will be able to demonstrate to the hockey world he is more than just a big, defensive defenceman. Not only will he be able to play a smart, defensive game and shut things down in his own end, he will prove to be an above average skater as well who can jump into the play and create offence with a breakout pass as well.

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Guhle possesses a lot of tools that make a great top-pairing defenceman. His combination of skating, size, defensive awareness and ability to move the puck up ice make him a fascinating prospect.

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