Kaiden Guhle: his name circulates in deal rumors, according to JiC

Dose
Crédit: MONTREAL, CANADA - MARCH 28: Kaiden Guhle #21 of the Montreal Canadiens skates with the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Kaiden Guhle, as we all know, is a very, very good defender. The 23-year-old is a big part of the Habs defensive brigade… when he’s healthy.

Because, yes, unfortunately, that’s a problem in his case: injuries don’t let him go.

All of which makes him a special case. The club knows that Guhle is an important part of their long-term plan, but they can’t count on him as often as they’d like.

And to me, that’s part of what explains what JiC reported tonight: from what he hears, Guhle’s name is circulating in trade rumors.

He mentions that Guhle could be the price to pay for Ryan O’Reilly.

We know the Habs love O’Reilly, and the club’s need at center is pretty glaring. That said, trading Guhle would be a big risk considering he’s currently in the first year of a six-year contract that pays him $5.55 million a year.

That’s a more than reasonable salary for a defenseman of his calibre.

It’s worth remembering, however, that the Canadiens actually have depth to spare in terms of left-handed defensemen. Lane Hutson is in town to stay, Mike Matheson could extend his contract in town and there’s also Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble and Adam Engström around.

Maybe the latter actually gets an audition so the Habs can evaluate whether a Guhle-less future is viable, y’know….

And since the depth on the left is more impressive, dipping into it instead of sending David Reinbacher elsewhere is also defensible.

Clearly, we’ll be keeping a close eye on all this.

Overtime

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