Canadiens' Guhle ready to play, take pivotal next step in NHL career

Kaiden Guhle was all smiles at Gilles Cadieux Arena, where Montreal Canadiens training camp is wrapping up and final preparations are being made for the start of the regular season next Wednesday.

If the 22-year-old was in a great mood Friday, it’s because he was officially cleared to return to play after starting camp on a hospital gurney rather than in a Canadiens uniform.

Now, “an ounce lighter,” as Guhle said jokingly regarding the procedure to remove his appendix two weeks ago, he’s prepared to take the next step in his NHL career.

It must be a big one to help the Canadiens achieve their goal of being in the mix for a playoff spot, and Guhle knows it. He’s accumulated 114 games of big-league experience to date, and he’s ritually played top minutes against the world’s best players. However, he knows there’s still another level for him to achieve on this stage.

Guhle is set on doing exactly that.

As for how he’ll do it, “I think just improving everywhere, offensively, defensively” is what the Edmonton native said.

“I think, last year, I tried to put a lot more emphasis on my defensive game and tried to tighten that up,” Guhle continued. “I played a lot with Mike (Matheson) playing against the top guys every night, so I think it was more important to be working on that side of my game at that time. And I’m still trying to do that.

“And offensively, too, trying to produce a little bit more at five-on-five this year and, when the chances are there, take them.”

Guhle has the ability to do it. 

The six-foot-three defenceman has one of the best skating strides on the Canadiens, and it’s at the foundation of a strong overall game that lends well to producing on both sides of the puck. He’s physical and fearless, he advances the play quickly and efficiently, and he has the proper balance of intensity and poise any blueliner averaging more than 20 minutes per game needs.

On Friday, Matheson pointed to that balance as a primary reason for why Guhle has been so effective at such a young age.

Matheson also vaunted the entire package Guhle brings as evidence to support the claim teammate Kirby Dach made on Spittin’ Chiclets earlier this week — that Guhle is primed for a breakout season.

“His skillset is very, very good,” said Matheson. “He just has such a good base of his game that there’s not a lot of holes, there’s not a lot of things that he needs to specifically work at. So, I think that’ll allow him to have that base to stick to and the rest is just the cherry on the top that he keeps building on.

“And the more he does that, the more offence he’ll have with the puck and making plays that will just naturally come with his skillset.”

It’s there already, with 10 goals and 40 points in Guhle’s bank helping him earn a six-year, $33.3 million contract extension last July.

But there’s growing optimism he can build on that as he plays out this final year of his entry-level contract before the new deal kicks in.

Staying healthy will be a priority, with the appendectomy hopefully being the last of several things that have plagued Guhle since he arrived in Montreal.

He was limited to just 44 games of his rookie season after suffering a knee injury, a concussion and a high ankle sprain. He missed seven games at the end of last season with another head injury after being pasted into the boards from behind by Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov.

But Guhle trained hard this summer to make himself less susceptible to further damage.

“I didn’t really put on much weight, but I feel stronger,” he said. “Learned how to use my body a lot better in the corners and (focused) just on protecting myself, and I feel stronger, I feel good. Tried to put on a little bit of weight and just felt not as quick, so I like where I’m at now.”

Guhle is now at a point where he can return to play, and he said he’d like to do that in Montreal’s final pre-season game against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday to help him “shake some of the rust off.”

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis was non-committal on whether Guhle would play — he said he hasn’t set his lineup yet and will wait for general manager Kent Hughes to speak with Senators general manager Steve Staios to get a sense for just how complete of an NHL roster both teams intend on icing. However, he mentioned on Wednesday that he’s relatively sure of what he’ll get from the player when the time comes.

“It’s exciting to see him on the ice,” St. Louis said after Guhle officially shed his non-contact jersey at camp. “For me, with Guhles, it’s just the consistency he brings. As coaches, you want to know what you’re going to get from the guys and Guhles is one of the guys that I’m pretty sure it’s going to be (a high bar). And sometimes it’s a little bit higher than that, sometimes it’s a little bit lower.

“Where he takes his game, I’m not sure yet, but I’m not worried about it because I know I already have that (high bar). So, I think that the finished product with Ghules, I don’t exactly know what it’s going to be in terms of is he going to be a shutdown D, is he going to be an offensive guy, too? I think he’s trying to figure that part out. But he’s going to be really good because he has that (high bar).”

It’s been raised to the point that when we asked Cole Caufield earlier this week about what Guhle means to the Canadiens, the winger responded, “we’re certainly not shutting down McDavid without him.”

The Canadiens aren’t guaranteed of stopping the best player in the world even with Guhle, but there’s no debating they give themselves a chance when he plays.

We’re talking about a defenceman who played over 23 minutes in 24 of his 70 games last season and never really appeared to be overtaxed — be it on his natural side, or even on the right side as a left-hander.

You can expect to see Guhle to the right of Matheson to start, but St. Louis said on Friday that he won’t necessarily be a fixture there.

“In a perfect world, I think he would play the left side, and I think we have other guys that can play the right side, too,” the coach said. “We’ll see how it shakes out, but it’s nice to have defencemen that can do it. To me, it’s like you can’t have too many centres and they can play wing and, to me, it’s like the same thing. So, we’ll see where they end up.”

Where Guhle will end up is back in the Canadiens lineup — perhaps as early as Saturday, but definitely come Wednesday, when the team opens its season against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

You could tell on Friday that Guhle was thrilled about that after the flair up with his appendix threatened that appearance at the Bell Centre.

“I’m ready, I feel good,” he said. “Whenever they need me to play, I’ll be ready to play.”