Montreal Canadiens Role Profiles: Kaiden Guhle

As we get into the dog days of summer and until training camp, thesickpodcast.com will profile Montreal Canadiens players based on their expected role for the 2026-27 NHL season.

Defenseman Kaiden Guhle will be entering his fifth NHL season with the Montreal Canadiens when the puck drops on the 2026-27 campaign. After yet another injury-plagued regular season, Guhle will be looking to finally turn the page and have a healthy season. By doing so, he has the chance to truly establish himself within the Canadiens’ top four defensemen for the long-term future.

The Canadiens defenseman has played more than 55 games in a single season just once in his career, when he suited up for 70 games during his sophomore year in the NHL. During the 2025-26 season, Guhle played a career-low 39 regular-season games due to multiple groin injuries that set his season back. On the positive side, he looked very comfortable for the majority of the postseason as he suited up in all 

Despite missing 120 of a possible 328 games since he entered the league during the 2022-23 season, Guhle has managed to show that he can be a top-four defenseman when healthy, but the injuries are starting to become a major issue that could really hinder his role on the Montreal Canadiens. This is a huge reason why he hasn’t been able to be a permanent top-four defenseman for the Canadiens and is currently slotted to be on the third pairing. 

To be fair to Guhle, when the team has a superstar defenseman like Lane Hutson and a reliable veteran like Mike Matheson who also both play on the left side, it makes it hard for him to be anything more at even strength, given that he is unable to play on his off side effectively. Hutson sometimes plays on the right side with Guhle, but that isn’t the most ideal situation to get the most out of arguably the Canadiens’ best player. 

During the postseason, Guhle was playing some of the best hockey of his career without getting injured as he suited up in all 19 playoff games for the Canadiens, where he recorded a team-leading 51 hits during the playoffs. Guhle was an absolute force on defence for the Montreal Canadiens, who really needed the physical presence that he brought throughout the postseason run. With that being said, he will be looking to carry that physical brand of hockey that allows him to be at his best for the 2026-27 campaign. 

While he might not get top-four minutes every night during the regular season, Guhle is expected to be a key contributor on the penalty kill for the Montreal Canadiens as both a great shot blocker and someone who can use his strength to clear bodies from the front of the net. Standing at 6-foot-3, 202 pounds, Guhle has the strength to serve as a guy that can get traffic away from his goalie; it will just depend on whether or not he can stay healthy to allow him to be available in that type of role.

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In all honesty, his defensive game has a bit of former Montreal Canadiens captain Shea Weber in him, in that Guhle also has a bit of a mean streak and is an x-factor for the team when they need physical play most. However, he doesn’t have the offensive game or shot that Weber had during his career. 

If healthy, Guhle is the type of player that could put up 20-25 points while being a solid player in his own end. He will be expected to provide the Canadiens with 18-20 minutes a night playing on either the second or third pairing.  He will be deployed more as a second-pairing defenseman based on his minutes, but he could still end up on a third pairing with someone like Arber Xhekaj or Jayden Struble as his partner. As mentioned above, this would be solely because of the logjam at the left side of the defensive core.

Guhle has a chance to really break out as a top shutdown defenseman for the Montreal Canadiens this season. The question really is whether or not he will be able to stay healthy enough to be that guy during the 2026-27 campaign. 

Do you think Kaiden Guhle can finally have a healthy season with the Montreal Canadiens?

Check out last Thursday’s profile on Juraj Slafkovsky‘s role for the 2026-27 season.