Kaiden Guhle

Kaiden Guhle (/ˈɡuːliː/ GOO-lee; born January 18, 2002) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the first round, 16th overall, by the Canadiens in the 2020 NHL entry draft.

Guhle was born in Sherwood Park, Alberta, to parents Carrianne and Mark. An athletic family overall, his mother was a former figure skater while his father played basketball. As a result, both Guhle and his older brother Brendan began power skating at a young age.

Guhle was selected with the first overall pick in the 2017 Western Hockey League (WHL) bantam draft by the Prince Albert Raiders. In his first full WHL season with the Raiders, the team won Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. They subsequently played as part of the 2019 Memorial Cup but did not advance out of the round-robin. During the 2019–20 season, he amassed 40 points in 64 games. On October 6, 2020, Guhle was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round (16th overall) at the 2020 NHL entry draft. Thereafter, he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the team.

With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the 2020–21 WHL season being delayed, Guhle was temporarily loaned to the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) before joining camp for the Canadian junior national team in late December 2020. He then skated in three games with Montreal's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Laval Rocket and would be limited to just two appearances with the Raiders once major junior play commenced due to a hand-injury.

Making a strong impression at the Canadiens' training camp prior to the 2021–22 NHL season, head coach Dominique Ducharme seriously weighed retaining Guhle in the lineup, though noting it would not make sense to do so unless there was a regular place for him in the top six. Upon reflection, Guhle himself said that he had not expected to still be in consideration a day before the roster announcement. He would ultimately return to Prince Albert for the 2021–22 season, registering fifteen points through 17 games before being traded to the Edmonton Oil Kings on December 1.

Acquired as part of the Oil Kings' bid to challenge the Winnipeg Ice for the WHL championship title, Guhle recorded five goals and twenty assists through 25 games with his newfound team, and was named the WHL Central Division's defenceman of the year. After missing the final weeks of the regular season due to injury, he returned for the first game of the 2022 WHL playoffs, and scored three goals and two assists in the Oil Kings' opening round sweep of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. After likewise sweeping the Red Deer Rebels in the second round, the Oil Kings would advance to the WHL Finals after defeating Winnipeg in five games. For his part, Guhle scored two goals and an assist in the series-clinching win. Winning the championship series over the Seattle Thunderbirds, Guhle captured the second Chynoweth Cup of his major junior career. He was named the WHL Playoff Most Valuable Player at the conclusion of the series, setting a team record for most goals by a defenceman in a single postseason (8). At the ensuing Memorial Cup tournament, the Oil Kings once again did not advance past the round-robin.

Following the conclusion of the 2022 Memorial Cup, Guhle began to rehabilitate a lower-body injury that he had been playing through during the playoff run. As a result of this, he did not participate in the team's development camp in July. He said that he "wanted to make sure that I was ready because there's a long season coming up. Hopefully, my first professional season." After his performance across pre-season action, Guhle was widely considered one of the most impressive young players in the Canadiens system and was a perceived frontrunner to make the team's defensive lineup. On October 10, 2022, it was confirmed that Guhle had made the Canadiens' opening night roster for the 2022–23 season. In his NHL debut on October 12, Guhle played a team-leading 22:34 minutes of ice time in a 4–3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. With injuries to the team's more senior left-side defencemen Mike Matheson and Joel Edmundson, Guhle continued to play top-line minutes for the Canadiens. He recorded his first NHL points, both assists, in a 3–2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 17, and was named the second star of the game. Guhle scored his first NHL goal ten days later in an 3–2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, helping the team to its first road victory of the season. In late 2022, after sustaining a knee injury in a game versus the Florida Panthers where he collided with Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov, it was announced that Guhle would miss at least two months of the remaining schedule. In his return to the team on February 28, 2023, Guhle scored a goal in a 3–1 win over the San Jose Sharks. After missing additional games due to a shoulder injury in early March, he would be sidelined yet again due to a high ankle sprain, effectively ending his season outright.

Guhle spent most of the 2023–24 season playing on the Canadiens' top pair alongside Mike Matheson, which necessitated a move to the right side, a position where the team had less depth than its counterpart. Speaking on the adjustment, he remarked that there had been "a lot of games, a lot of reps. You get more comfortable every game. Still working on a lot of stuff and still a lot of stuff I need to learn on that side of the ice." On February 29, 2024, Guhle appeared in his 100th career NHL game. A month later, he was assessed a one-game suspension after slashing Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny from the bench the night prior, which he attributed to Konecny having hit Canadiens teammate Juraj Slafkovský shortly beforehand, saying "I wasn't trying to injure him. I was more just trying to steer him away." Guhle then exited an April 4 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning after being hit against the boards by Nikita Kucherov. Sustaining a head injury as a result, he missed the final two weeks of the season. Collectively, Guhle totaled six goals and 16 assists in 70 games played.