MONTREAL — At the end of his 30th shift of the night, Kaiden Guhle dished out a crosscheck to every Buffalo Sabre in sight before punching up Ryan McLeod.
Then, after his Montreal Canadiens prevailed 4-3 in the shootout, Guhle came out and said, “I didn’t start it.”
No, the six-foot-three, 202-pound defenceman finished it, capping the type of performance that outlined just how valuable he is to this team.
If it wasn’t obvious before Guhle played 25:25 in Mike Matheson’s absence Tuesday, it’s probably because he’s so seldom been available to play, let alone play that way. Tuesday’s game was the 24-year-old’s 210th in the league — which is 118 less than he’s been eligible to play since debuting in 2022 — and that, more than anything, has gotten in the way of him providing the Canadiens with what they so desperately need from him.
If it was just the type of nastiness Guhle displayed at the end of overtime, the Canadiens already have Arber Xhekaj for that.
But combining his ability to consistently play hard and mean with his simple, direct and efficient style is what enables Guhle to be counted on in a way the Canadiens can’t lean on Xhekaj.
It’s why Guhle was on the ice at the end of overtime, while the team was killing off a four-on-three Sabres power play.
The 29 shifts he played before that one were just as effective, though they didn’t end with him throwing crosschecks and right jabs.
“He’s a beast for us,” said Lane Hutson, who had a goal, an assist, and also put in his own beastly performance over 27:07.
Josh Anderson, who scored the goal Hutson assisted on, called Guhle a difference-maker when he’s available before citing the reason he’s been so unavailable as “some unfortunate luck, to say the least.”
Knee, head and high-ankle injuries were certainly unfortunate, limiting Guhle to just 44 games his first season. The Albertan caught a bum deal when head and shoulder ailments knocked him out of 11 games during his sophomore campaign.
But before this latest stretch of adductor injuries required multiple surgeries and kept him sidelined until Game 5 of this season came the worst bout of bad luck imaginable for Guhle.
“I tripped over myself and sliced my quadriceps,” he said Tuesday morning.
The 21-game absence post-surgery, from Jan. 29-March 28 of 2025, was a major setback. And the adductor issues from the onset of last season through the playoffs never really enabled Guhle to catch up the way he hoped to.
Corrective surgery in the off-season put Guhle behind again, but you’d never know it with the way he played in his return in a shootout win over Detroit on Saturday.
And after playing to the height of his abilities in the win over the Sabres Tuesday, Guhle was asked how long it’s been since he felt this good.
“It’s been a while,” he responded. “So, it feels good to be healthy.”
It feels essential for the Canadiens to have him healthy. Especially with Matheson, who led the team in average time on ice in each of the last three seasons, currently listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
He’s all but guaranteed to not be available to play for the Canadiens in Washington Wednesday, and it’s certainly possible he misses much more than just one game. And that makes Guhle’s return — and his return to the best version of himself — that much timelier.
It coincides with Noah Dobson elevating his play, and with Alex Carrier continuing his steady start to the season.
Hutson is leveling up — as evidenced by his performance against the Sabres — while Xhekaj and Adam Engstrom will have to find a way to raise their level from where it was on Tuesday.
Where it was for Guhle on Tuesday is where it’ll need to be for him and the Canadiens moving forward.
“When Guhles is going, he can eat up a lot of minutes, the way he plays, the way he covers ice,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “There’s a lot of consistency in his play, (so) you feel pretty good when he’s on the ice.”
Unless you’re getting crosschecked or punched by him.
“I think that’s part of my role, that’s part of my job,” said Guhle, who’s in Year 2 of a six-year, $33.3-million deal. “What I get paid to do is just play hard and be hard to play against. Doesn’t always mean blowing guys up or starting stuff up…”
But finishing it, like Guhle did Tuesday, is added value.
