Guhle Extension: Canadiens Pro-Active Approach Offers Benefits

Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes took care of his final pressing issue when he signed defenceman Kaiden Guhle to a six-year contract that carries an annual average value (AAV) of $5.55 million.

You could argue that calling it a ‘pressing issue’ is a slight misnomer with a side order of drama, as Guhle’s contract was not set to expire until next summer. But there’s a heightened level of responsibility within Canadiens management when it comes to taking care of internal matters, a refreshing change of pace compared to the last management group that would often enter into public battles with the players they were interested in signing, such as Alex Radulov or Andre Markov. To be fair, it’s much easier to commit big money and term to younger players, but let’s just say Habs fans will have absolutely no issue with Hughes finishing his homework within days or weeks rather than letting it drag to the last moment.

The Canadiens now have their core group, including Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Guhle, under contract until 2030. Other important players will need new deals, including an entry-level contract for top prospect Ivan Demidov, but the bulk of the work is done. Not only does this remove much of the stress and potential bad blood involved in negotiations, it also allows Hughes and Co. to focus on the future without worrying about the present.

Kaiden Guhle joins the rush and sets up a 2v1 with Joel Armia, who scores his 11th of the year.

1-0 #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Q2dw8VXjIh

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) March 3, 2024

Montreal Canadiens Benefits

This strategy confirms the Canadiens have complete confidence in their scouting team, as well as the coaches who will be tasked with helping the development of key players.

Beyond that, the Habs can shift their approach in upcoming drafts and completely forget about filling a need. From here on out, the best player available (BPA) is the easy and logical choice when preparing to add critical prospects to the organization. In that same vein, the fact that the core is locked up will also give the team a little more leeway when it comes to leveraging draft picks into NHL-ready players, as they did when they acquired both Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach.

Of course, we have to allow for the possibility that Guhle may never become a dominant top-pairing defenceman, but at just $5.55 million per season, he’s only been given top-four money, which epitomizes a safe bet, especially since the NHL’s salary cap is expected to continue to go up significantly in the next few years. If Guhle continues his steady development, his deal allows the Canadiens to have enough salary cap space available to eventually sign important defencemen such as Lane Hutson, Adam Engstrom, or Logan Mailloux to rich contracts down the road if they prove they’re worth of a raise.

The Habs can do him a favour by giving him a slightly more reasonable set of responsibilities going forward. Guhle’s underlying numbers have been rather poor since he joined the league, but he was essentially thrown to the wolves in his rookie year, while he had to play on his offside for the majority of the 2023-24 campaign. Most players would have folded like the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs if they were given that level of difficult usage. Guhle has shown that he can tread water when the waves are capsizing smaller boats.

He has also shown he can produce much better stats when he’s paired alongside one of the younger defencemen in the lineup instead of an aging vet, a very encouraging sign as to his future value with the defencemen who will play a crucial role in the team’s long-term rebuild plans.

It’s not all sunshine and lollipops in Guhle’s case.

He hasn’t exactly had the best luck in the health department, and whether it’s fair or not, he will have to remain healthy if he’s to become one of the premiere defencemen in the league. But now that he has a lot more job security in place, Guhle no longer has to put himself in incredibly awkward situations along the boards to ensure the puck leaves the zone. I’m not saying he no longer has to work hard, but he can afford to pick his spots a little more frequently.

And at $5.55 million per season, it would be unreasonable to expect him to perform as well as the Norris-Trophy favourites.

The Montreal Canadiens do not need Kaiden Guhle to be a here. They simply require steady play. It’s easy to forget given that he was treated as a hardened veteran from the moment he broke into the league, but Guhle is only 22 years old, and the best is yet to come.