Montreal Canadiens: Kaiden Guhle Has Perfect D Partner For World Juniors

Montreal Canadiens first round draft pick Kaiden Guhle is in Alberta gearing up for his second crack at winning a gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Last year, he was on the team’s third defence pairing playing a supporting shutdown role as the team took home a silver medal. They fell in the gold medal game to a very stacked USA team that featured fellow Canadiens prospect Cole Caufield.

Now, Guhle is back once again and ready to take on a much larger role.

The 19 year old was taken in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft and is much more prepared to play a starring role this year. When he showed up to play for Canada a year ago, he had hardly played a game that season. He was with the Laval Rocket for a short period and suited up for three games, but the WHL season had not begun so he was hardly in game shape at the start of the tournament.

This year, Guhle has been playing quite well in the WHL. He was recently traded from the Prince Albert Raiders to the Edmonton Oil Kings for a large package of first round picks and top prospects. Between the two teams, Guhle has three goals and 18 points in 20 games.

At 6’3″ and 203 pounds, Guhle is a physical presence on the ice and plays a great defensive game. Pairing that with his near point per game production in the WHL and Guhle is going to play an enormous role for Canada at the upcoming World Juniors.

The team was picked on Sunday night and had their first practice as a team yesterday. Guhle’s partner in practice will perfectly complement his style and the pairing will play a ton of minutes at this tournament.

Lukas Cormier was a third round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2020 NHL Draft. He is an offensive minded defenceman who plays in the QMJHL for the Charlottetown Islanders. He leads defenders in scoring in the QMJHL with 36 points in 26 games.

Cormier also ran away with the scoring lead among defenders last season with 54 points in 39 games. The next highest scoring defender was Jordan Spence and he had 40, which was 14 back of Cormier.

Having an offensive producer like Cormier on the ice with Guhle will allow the Canadiens prospect to play a steady, defensive style. Cormier likes to jump into the play offensively and get involved in the attacking zone, so it makes a lot of sense to have a defensive stalwart like Guhle on the ice with him.

Plus, once they are in the attacking zone, Guhle has no problem getting involved as well. He can move the puck around with a great pass from the point or fire a slapshot that can beat a goalie from well out.

The Guhle-Cormier pairing is going to see a lot of ice in the World Junior tournament this year. The only questions left are, will Guhle also be named captain and will he be able to lead the team to a gold medal this year?