Montreal Canadiens: Kaiden Guhle, Jan Mysak To Captain Teams at World Juniors

The Montreal Canadiens do not have a lot of prospects heading to the World Juniors, but a couple of them are going to be playing leading roles for their respective countries.

While only three Habs prospects got the call to take part in the annual tournament, two of them have been tabbed to wear the captain’s C on their chest for their country.

Kaiden Guhle, the Canadiens first round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft was named the captain of Team Canada earlier this week. Yesterday it was 2020 second round pick Jan Mysak who was named the captain of his team, and he will be representing Czech Republic.

Guhle was a great choice as Canada’s captain. He played at the tournament last year and is one of just three returning members of Canada’s 2022 entry. He was also the captain of his WHL team, the Prince Albert Raiders as an 18 year old and is going to be leaned on heavily in a defensive, shutdown role for Canada this year.

Czech Republic will also be leaning heavily on Jan Mysak, though he is likely to be the team’s top centre and not a top four defender like Guhle. This will be the third World Junior tournament for Mysak who has scored five points in ten games at the event over the past two years. He was also the captain of the team a year ago so it is really no surprise he was given the role once again.

Guhle is having a terrific two-way season in the WHL. He was recently traded from the Prince Albert Raiders to the Edmonton Oil Kings who are among the favourites to win the Memorial Cup in June as the best Junior team in Canada. Guhle is a big, physical, shutdown defender but he also has 18 points in 20 games.

Mysak is an offensive forward who is playing in the OHL for the Hamilton Bulldogs this season. He has scored 17 goals and 31 points in 25 games. Czech Republic is in the weaker of the two groups for round robin play. Though they will play Canada, they also face Finland, Germany and Austria and have a decent chance of finishing second, depending on how that game with Finland plays out.

Both players will play a big role on their teams, and Habs second Rond pick from the 2021 NHL Draft, Oliver Kapanen, will have more of a depth role for Finland in all likelihood. Kapanen is a smart defensive player who has scored seven points in six Junior games in Finland this season. The 18 year old is likely going to play a third line defensive role for Finland.

All three players are in the same group so they will be facing off against each other during the preliminary round. Then, on January 2nd, they will all play in different quarterfinal games.

All the action gets started on Boxing Day when Guhle faces Mysak and Kapanen’s Finnish team takes on Germany.