Should The Habs Consider Trading Guhle?

One part of a player’s value to a team is the ability to stay healthy, and the truth is ever since entering the NHL, Guhle has had a lot of injuries that have kept him out of the lineup. With that being said, although Guhle has shown that he is a very reliable defenseman, the fact that he misses nearly half of the Canadiens’ games significantly hurts the value that he brings to the team. This is why the Habs may be better off using the value of what he can do on the ice in a trade for a defenseman that can be in the lineup more consistently.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get injured yet again before the end of the season, as he seems to put himself in situations that leave him vulnerable. If that does happen, his value will only get worse, and it could be harder to trade him in the future if the Canadiens deem that to be the best plan moving forward.

As of now, the thoughts on whether or not the Canadiens should put Guhle on the trade market are a mixed bag. Yes, he’s still a young defenseman at just 23 years old, but the injuries piling up, on top of Lane Hutson and Mike Matheson being the current top 2 left-handed defensemen for at least the next 3-4 years, make Guhle expendable to improve in a position of need. For example, the Habs need someone who can play the right side in the top 4. With that being said, the Canadiens could use Guhle in a hockey trade for a right-handed defenseman that can play with either Matheson or Hutson, allowing them to play on their strong side consistently.

Also on Thursday night, Guhle had a solid performance outside of the injury scare, playing on the right side of Matheson, which Tony Marinaro discussed with his co-host Matt Ohayon on Friday night’s episode of the Sick Podcast about whether or not Guhle can play the right side of the ice consistently.  While Marinaro thinks Guhle could be a good fit, he does mention that it’s only been one matchup and we will need to see more before truly knowing if he can be a good fit on the right side of Matheson or Hutson.

On Saturday night, he is expected to try the experiment on the right side of Hutson, which will allow us to analyze more whether he can play the right side.

On the other hand, Ohayon mentioned on Friday night that he would offer Guhle to the Blues for veteran Colton Parayko, who may be much older than Guhle but would be much more of a reliable defensive presence in the Canadiens lineup on the right side. Parayko may not be a long-term solution, but he would be the perfect stopgap to wait and see if David Reinbacher can develop into a top 4 defenseman in the future and overcome his own injuries.

The options with Guhle seem endless right now, as there is an argument that he fits in the top 4 on the right side now, but also, given his injury history and only being 23 years old, there are some who think it may be a good idea to capitalize on his value.

What are your thoughts? Would you trade Guhle for an established right-handed defenseman, or stay status quo with him and hope he can stay healthy?