Kaiden Guhle Will Make His Season Debut On Saturday

The Canadiens will get defenseman Kaiden Guhle back for tonight’s home game against the Red Wings, the team reported. Guhle has been sidelined since undergoing minor surgery on his adductor muscle over the summer, and Saturday will mark his first appearance of the 2026-27 season.

Montreal disclosed the procedure on September 16th with a four-to-five-week recovery timeline. Guhle missed all of training camp and was placed on injured reserve September 28th. He returned to a standard practice jersey on October 5, when head coach Martin St. Louis said he was getting close to game action. Tonight’s return comes just ahead of the front end of that original window, after he missed the Canadiens’ first four games.

It is the latest in a series of injury interruptions for the 24-year-old. Guhle was limited to 39 games last season after surgery to repair a partial adductor tear in November. He returned January 10, coincidentally also against Detroit, and finished the year with two goals, nine assists, and an average of 19:28 per night. The former 16th overall pick played in all 19 games throughout the postseason as Montreal reached the Eastern Conference Final. The season before, he underwent surgery in January 2025 to repair a lacerated quadriceps muscle.

In Guhle’s absence, Montreal has used Arber Xhekaj and Adam Engstrom as its third pair, with the recently traded Jayden Struble being the seventh defenseman. For Saturday’s matchup, the Canadiens are planning to go with 11 forwards and seven defeseman, as forward Florian Xhekaj will be out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury, per Marco D’Amico of BPM Sports.

Guhle is in the second season of a six-year, $33.3MM extension that carries a $5.55MM cap hit through 2030-31. In 208 games with the Habs, the Calgary native has 51 assists and 69 points.