2026 Canadiens Top 25 Under 25: #5 Kaiden Guhle

Introduction

Kaiden Guhle is an established mid-pairing defenceman at the NHL level.

That’s the whole profile. You may now rush to the comments.

All kidding aside, the joke is that while Guhle is undeniably a key part of the Canadiens and a talented, multifaceted player in general, it remains difficult to figure out where he fits in the Habs’ future as the defender prepares to turn 25.

The Edmonton native has become a major cog on the Canadiens’ blue line, being used heavily in shutdown and lead-defending situations. Within a corps defined by its stable pairings, Guhle showcased his versatility last season by playing major minutes with Lane Hutson, Mike Matheson, and Alexandre Carrier. He even chipped in 11 points, and more importantly eight post-season assists.

At the same time, it’s hard to overlook the fact that Guhle only played 39 regular-season games, meaning that as he enters his fifth NHL season he has accrued only 208 games played out of a possible 328. Further, while the Guhle-Hutson (+1 goal differential, 53% expected-goal share in 181 minutes at five-on-five) and Guhle-Carrier (0, 57% xGF, 173 minutes) pairings were stellar, the Matheson-Guhle duo was … less so (-4, 33% xGF, 180 minutes).

Guhle, in a nutshell, is good enough to be considered in multiple key roles, but not exceptional enough to make him a lock in any of those spots. With Hutson and Dobson untouchable, Carrier perceived to not be valuable enough, and Matheson on a less trade-friendly contract, Guhle is often considered as the sacrificial lamb by fans and pundits alike in any proposed deal for that mythological creature known as a second-line centre.

Voting

Every panellist had Guhle in their top seven, but none had him above fourth. Indeed, six of nine members placed Guhle sixth or seventh in their rankings, but vote-splitting between the players placed ahead of him has Guhle in fifth place.

The community vote told a similar story, with sixth and fourth place being the most common votes. There were almost no top-three votes for Guhle, but there was a longer tail running down as low as 14th.

Top 25 Under 25 History

Since entering at #8, Guhle has hovered around fifth place for the remainder of his time in the T25U25. He concludes his time in this exercise at #5 for the second consecutive year.

History of #5

Strengths

Guhle’s greatest strength is probably being a jack-of-all-trades in a team full of specialists. Head coach Martin St-Louis has recognized this and placed him in arguably the team’s two most important roles: number-one shutdown defender and Hutson’s partner.

While his primary asset is his defensive play and his physicality, he is also a capable puck-retriever, mover, and passer with decent foot speed and agility. Guhle’s shot is also a bit of an overlooked asset, although this might be because we see it so rarely; he only averages just over two shot attempts per game.

Weaknesses

The problem with being a jack-of-all trades is that one becomes a master-of-none. Strictly speaking, among Montreal’s blue-liners, Carrier arguably has better defensive positioning and understanding of body/stick leverage, Arber Xhekaj is more physical, and Hutson, Dobson, and Matheson are all better with the puck. Guhle’s biggest strength is the sum of his parts. His biggest weakness is when those parts are needed only in isolation.

The other thing is that Guhle’s current role largely forces him to defer to the needs or strengths of his partners. While we know that he can carry the puck, he won’t be doing much of that next to Hutson. Indeed, his microstats from the 2025-26 season indicate that he didn’t touch the puck much at all. There is a concern that constantly playing the sidekick may limit Guhle from developing as a standalone player.

There’s also the elephant in the room: Guhle’s inability to stay healthy. The thing is, given how every major injury has been to a different region of the body (and one was a complete fluke), it’s hard to write off the player as injury prone or having a physical liability. His injury history has also not caused him to shy away from things that could potentially cause injury, such as hitting or blocking shots. Truthfully, there appears to be very little that he can do here except hope that Fortuna shines her gaze upon him.

Projection

All in all, Guhle is a critical player to the Montreal Canadiens who tends to fly under the radar. The team is markedly better with him in the lineup (.679 point percentage last year versus .616 without), and there is no obvious replacement waiting in the wings.

Where does he go from here?

He could potentially forge a partnership with Hutson that reminds people of Cale Makar and Devon Toews, but this would force Hutson to the off-side permanently. He could potentially be as solid a defender as Jonas Brodin, but that might be a waste of his abilities with the puck. He may continue down the road of being good to great at most things, but excellent at few.

Truthfully, your guess is as good as mine. But if he can stay on the ice, Guhle could continue to be a pivotal piece for the CH for the next five years and beyond.