Kaiden Guhle’s season will not begin on time.
Renaud Lavoie said at the end of a TVA Sports segment in the last few minutes that the Canadiens defenseman is expected to return sometime in November, and he made it clear the club will have to open the year without him.
“I don't know if this has been said, but Kaiden Guhle will not start the season with the Canadiens.” - Renaud Lavoie
The update matches the concern that had been circling for more than a week. Guhle had been seen in a tracksuit in Brossard and was not able to fully join his teammates in on-ice sessions. It later came out that he had surgery during the summer, and the Canadiens only added to the speculation when they closed one practice to the media and fans.
Renaud Lavoie had already said last week that the organization did not seem especially alarmed, a point Kent Hughes repeated today as well. Even so, the news lands as a major disappointment.
Guhle also did not finish the playoffs at full strength, and that detail now carries a lot more weight.
His absence leaves the Canadiens short on an important defenseman right from the start, after his season was already cut to 39 games last year, when he posted 11 points.
It also throws the competition on the blue line wide open. Jayden Struble, Adam Engström and David Reinbacher now have a real chance to grab one of the available spots at camp. Reinbacher had recently said he wanted to make the team immediately instead of going back to Laval this season.
Training camp opens Tuesday, and it will give the first look at a defense group that is already missing a key piece.
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Medium-term contract ideas were also reportedly in the mix, which makes the eventual short-term route even more revealing about where things stood. For Xhekaj, the next season now carries real weight: a stronger year would not only help him re-establish his place in the lineup, it could also put him in a better spot when the next round of negotiations comes around. [Read more 🡒]
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What makes Fowler worth tracking is less about immediate hype than the path he could force if his development keeps moving the right way. The rookie race is always shaped by opportunity as much as talent, and for Montreal the real question is whether Fowler can arrive at the point where the Canadiens have a decision to make about how quickly to bring him into the picture. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens May Have An Unexpected Arber Xhekaj Plan
With Kaiden Guhle unavailable and Montreal still sorting through its blue-line depth, Martin St-Louis is keeping the door open to a different kind of lineup wrinkle for Arber Xhekaj. The Canadiens still view Xhekaj mainly as a defenseman, especially after he recently signed a one-year contract, but the coaching staff is clearly thinking about ways to keep him in the mix as roster needs shift from night to night.
Xhekaj has already gotten a brief look on the wing once before, and the idea is no longer being treated as a one-off curiosity. For Montreal, the appeal is simple: a physical, versatile player who can help in more than one spot gives St-Louis another option while the team waits to see how the rest of the lineup settles in. [Read more 🡒]