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Montreal Canadiens: 3 Prospects Who Could Force Their Way Into Habs Lineup Next Season

By Ken MacMillan

Dec 30, 2021; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Montreal Canadiens left wing Rafael Harvey-Pinard. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 30, 2021; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Montreal Canadiens left wing Rafael Harvey-Pinard. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 1, 2021; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Montreal Canadiens Kaiden Guhle. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2021; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Montreal Canadiens Kaiden Guhle. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports /

Kaiden Guhle

The Canadiens are in an interesting spot with their group of defenders. They have a group of experienced NHLers signed through next season that includes Joel Edmundson, Jeff Petry, David Savard, Chris Wideman and Alexander Romanov will be retained as well.

That doesn’t leave a lot of room for youngsters, but there are many of them. Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Justin Barron, Mattias Norlinder, and Arber Xhekaj will all be playing their first full pro seasons in 2022-23. That either means there will be an incredibly young group of defenders on the Laval Rocket, or a couple of them will crack the NHL lineup.

If any of them are going to come into camp and blow the management team and coaching staff away, it is going to be Kaiden Guhle. He actually hung around training camp for quite a while last season before being sent back to the WHL. He has done nothing in the meantime to suggest he will be worse next season.

All he did was scored just under a point per game in the WHL, get dealt to the best team in the league and become a cornerstone piece of their team, win a championship, and get named WHL Playoffs MVP. He had a total of 40 points in 42 regular season and 16 points in 19 playoff games.

Not to mention he is a beast defensively at 6’2 and 201 pounds and is a surprisingly quick and agile skater bot forwards and backwards. He closes gaps on guys so quick they have no idea he’s coming at them until the puck is knocked off their stick and they are pretty near knocked right out of their skates.

Guhle was a first round pick in 2020 and has a real chance to impress the coaching staff enough next season that he starts the year with the Canadiens. They will probably want to be patient with him and start him off in Laval, but he might just be too good to send down already.

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