During his last season in the junior ranks with the Edmonton Oil Kings, Kaiden Guhle was called “the most ready prospect for the NHL” by his coach Brad Lauer.
Guhle demonstrated that his game was already quite complete for a player of his age in his first two seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. Now aged 22, he believes he is ready to continue to develop his game and contribute a little more to the attack.
“Last year, I devoted a lot of energy to my defensive game,” Guhle said Friday after training at the Gilles-Cadieux arena in Mont-Tremblant. I was playing with Mike (Matheson) and I found myself against the best lines of the opposing teams. I felt like I had to focus on my defense. I want to play even better defensively, but I would also like to contribute more offensively at five-on-five. When I get chances, I will have to take them. »
Guhle had six goals and 16 assists in 70 games last winter. He had 18 points in 44 games in his first NHL campaign.
Head coach Martin St-Louis said earlier this week that he wasn’t yet sure who Guhle would be as an NHL player: an offensive defenseman, a defensive defenseman or something in between. two.
Regardless, Matheson stressed that the foundation of Guhle’s game is so good that he will always be a key part of his team.
“Obviously his skills are very good,” Matheson said. He has a very good base, not many holes in his game, things to work on precisely. The rest is the icing on the sundae.
“The more he focuses on his base, the more confident he will be with the puck to make plays that will come naturally because of his skills,” he added.
Guhle has not yet played during the preparatory schedule and he was not yet sure whether he would face the Senators on Saturday in Ottawa at the end of camp.
He underwent an appendectomy before camp and the team then played it safe while he recovered from the surgery.
“I felt really bad for one evening, but I had been enduring pain for a few days already,” he said. I chose to check to see what was going on and we fixed the issue quickly. It was the best decision to remove my appendix.
“Yes, it would be nice to play a preseason game,” Guhle added. I would like to knock off the rust a little. But if I’m not playing, I have no problem jumping into action from the first game of the season. »
All indications are that Guhle will once again be placed to Matheson’s right to start the season, although St. Louis noted that it would probably be ideal to place the young defenseman on his natural left side.
