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Kaiden Guhle has long been defined by how much he cares about his teammates. Maddie Meyer / Getty Images
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MONTREAL — It was the first weekend of August, and Zack Bolduc had no plans.
He was home working out in the Quebec City area, preparing for his first season with the Montreal Canadiens after being traded a month earlier from the St. Louis Blues, and there he was, a 22-year-old man in the prime of his life with no weekend plans in the dead of summer.
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Then, his phone buzzed. He had a text message.
It was Kaiden Guhle.
Next thing he knew, Bolduc was heading to Montreal to attend the Osheaga music festival with his new teammates.
“I had no plans, actually, for that weekend,” Bolduc recalled recently, “then Guhles just texted me, so I was like, ‘Yeah, why not?’”
This is part of what has already defined Guhle, a natural leader to whom the team means everything. No player is insignificant; every player is important and must therefore be included in whatever the team is doing.
Bolduc was one of the Canadiens’ most important offseason acquisitions, a player the team hopes will be a big part of its success for years, but also a player who may have been sitting around at home while several of his new teammates were enjoying one of the perks of being a Canadien.
“It was a good opportunity to meet the guys and just have fun,” Bolduc said. “So I went out with the guys, and we had a good time.”
And just like that, Bolduc was part of the team.
Guhle had done his homework. He played with Jake Neighbours with the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL and chatted with him about Bolduc, Neighbours’ former Blues teammate. He was told Bolduc would fit in great with the group. And by all accounts, Bolduc has done just that.
But it began in the dead of summer, the groundwork being laid on a weekend when Bolduc had no plans.
And it all began with a text from Guhle.
“It was kind of the first time we all met him,” Guhle said. “It was kind of cool to meet him outside of the rink. He’s a great guy.”
This, in a nutshell, is Kaiden Guhle.
For all the positive aspects he brings on the ice, one of Guhle’s biggest strengths has always been his off-ice focus on the team being a true team. He has long been defined by how much he cares about his teammates.
One of the big themes of training camp has been how the Canadiens will fill the leadership void left by the retirement of David Savard and the departures of veterans Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak. Well, the answer to that question is already in the room.
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Another of the big themes of training camp has been how the Canadiens will become a harder team to play against — how they will find the physical edge necessary to succeed in the playoffs after being so thoroughly outclassed in that department by the Washington Capitals. Well, the answer to that question is also already in the room.
And the answer to both questions is embodied in one player.
Leadership on a hockey team can take many forms. What Guhle did to make sure Bolduc would join his teammates at Osheaga qualifies: a simple text and an invite. Guhle does that all the time.
When he was in junior hockey, he was the one throwing an invite in the group chat to go to a movie or play video games. That continues to this day with the Canadiens.
“Especially when it comes to getting the guys together for team bonding and stuff, he’s really good for it,” defenceman Jayden Struble said. “Any opportunity he gets to get the boys together, he’s one of the first ones to try to make it happen. … When you have a guy like that, that seems to be for the boys, as they say, and just loves the guys, it’s easy. Especially when he has that much talent, he’s that good at hockey, and he still loves to be around the guys, it’s a pretty good mix.”
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to show leadership, and Guhle checks those boxes, too.
For instance, as soon as Alexandre Carrier was traded to the Canadiens last year, one of the first things he noticed was how Guhle operated off and on the ice. He was immediately impressed.
There was a vibe to Guhle that just screamed business. A year later, Carrier has not backed off on where he thinks Guhle can go.
“He’s what, 23? But he plays like he’s been around the league for 10 years,” Carrier said. “He’s really mature, he’s really confident. He makes solid plays. He’s good defensively, but he’s got great feet, he’s got a great shot. Overall, for me, he can become super good.
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“Like, a (Jaccob) Slavin type of player, almost.”
We decided to run that by an NHL pro scout, just to see if it had any merit. Slavin is arguably the best defensive defenceman in the game today, so it’s a very high bar. The scout didn’t think Guhle was at that level right now, but also didn’t think it’s unreasonable to think he could get there one day.
“I love him more than anyone on this team,” the scout said. “He’s a guy who will play 18 or 20 years, 23, 24 minutes a night and you’ll know exactly what you’re going to get every night. He’s like a diesel truck, totally reliable.”
That reliability, that consistency in his effort and his game, is another form of leadership. Guhle having that at age 23 makes it that much more impactful.
“I don’t think he needs to change much,” coach Martin St. Louis said when asked what kind of step Guhle might take this season. “I just think he probably needs to get a little better at everything, which they usually do at that age. I feel with Guhles, we know what we get. For a young guy, it feels like he’s a pretty consistent player.”
Considering that consistency is St. Louis’ No. 1 area for improvement for the Canadiens this season, Guhle’s consistency makes him a leader.
Guhle has always done the more traditional form of leadership well, too: getting up in the room and addressing the team at the right moments, screaming at his teammates on the bench to pick it up, being vocal.
With the Canadiens, Guhle has largely avoided that to this point. Now, he will no longer be avoiding it.
“I’ve always known I was a leader, my whole life. Not just because I’ve been a good player, I feel like just the things I do on the ice, the things I do off the ice, I try to include guys, try to push people, try to pull guys into the fight,” Guhle said. “I think it’s a respect thing. I’m not going to come in here my first three years as a young guy, guns blazing trying to step on people’s toes. Some of these guys have been in the league 10 or 12 years and they have their ways of doing things. I’m not going to come in and try to change the way things are.
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“It’s more the sense that it’s my fourth year, I’m getting older now — which is weird to say — we have younger guys coming in now that maybe need some direction. … I think it’s just helping out young guys, I’m more comfortable with the older guys just giving my perspective on things, whereas maybe two years ago I was more quiet in that sense.”
And the team captain would welcome this more outspoken version of Guhle.
“He’s definitely stepping up into a bigger role now,” Nick Suzuki said. “Even last year he was a bit more vocal. But just the way he plays, he’s a leader. He always tries to do the right thing. He lays it on the line for the team every single night. He leads by example and he’s definitely going to be a piece of the leadership group moving forward.”
Back in 2021, we visited with Guhle in Western Canada while he was on a road trip with the Prince Albert Raiders, with stops in his hometown of Edmonton and Red Deer and ended it with a visit to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
In Red Deer, we witnessed the violence for the first time.
Rebels forward Blake Stevenson entered the Prince Albert zone, made the mistake of turning his back to Guhle against the boards, and while he was looking to make a pass to a trailer, Guhle buried him right in the numbers. The game had not been going well for the Raiders, who were being pushed around, and Guhle decided he would do something about it.
“Oh yeah,” Guhle said with a laugh when we showed him the video recently. “I remember this one.”
That level of violence did not come immediately for Guhle when he entered the WHL. It took time.
“It was something even in junior that I had to build up throughout the years,” Guhle said. “That was my fourth year in junior. This is my fourth year (in the NHL) now. I started to kind of get back into that at the end of last year. Part of the reason I wanted to put on weight this summer was to be able to play that style of game. Every team needs one or two of those guys. We already have one in Arber (Xhekaj), but that’s something I think we need to improve on.”
Kaiden Guhle enterre des gens.
Kaiden Guhle buries people. pic.twitter.com/LjK4EpTFBg
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 13, 2025
Guhle was 190 pounds when he hit Stevenson in the numbers in Red Deer four years ago. He’s 211 pounds now. And earlier that year, in 2021, as the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup Final, Guhle watched how that group of defencemen behaved in its own end.
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And Guhle watched one defenceman more than any other: Shea Weber.
“Playing in the playoffs last year, I think the ‘D’ corps can play harder. I don’t expect Lane (Hutson) or (Noah Dobson) or even (Mike Matheson) to do that stuff all the time; they’ve got a lot of offensive skill, so they maybe want to save some energy for that side of the game. So that leaves the few of us to pick up the slack in that sense,” Guhle said. “Not necessarily blowing guys up every game, but just even when the Canadiens were in the playoffs a few years ago in the bubble and the Leafs were freaking out about Webby cross-checking guys and how hard it was to get to the net, I’m sure Webby loved to hear that. Guys were probably scared to go to the net; guys probably didn’t want to go into the corners with him. He had a presence.
“We have the ability to have that type of presence. That’s what I want us to do this year, have that presence where when you step on the ice against our team, you know you’re not going to leave the game without some bumps and bruises.”
When people talk about the ascension of the Canadiens, they talk about Suzuki, about Hutson, about Cole Caufield, about Juraj Slafkovský and, most recently, about Ivan Demidov.
Guhle’s name almost never comes up.
But he is critically important to everything.
“I mean, I know my importance to this team, I don’t care if no one brings my name up,” Guhle said. “I think there’s guys that fly under the radar, and I’m more than OK with that. I’d rather it be like that. Just come in and do my job. I think the guys know what I bring to the table, and that’s what I care about most. I’m more about just being a glue guy. We were talking about roles, and you need guys like me, Arber, Strubes to be successful. I think we know the type of role we play and we know the importance even if the media doesn’t portray it.
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“I think just having the respect of the group is what’s important.”
A rapid fire through some of his teammates confirms Guhle has that respect:
• Suzuki: “He’s a big piece. He does everything that you want a defenceman to do.”
• Slafkovský: “He’s very important. You want to have guys be like he is on your team when you’re building something.”
• Matheson: “I think just his steadiness is impressive.”
• Dobson: “He’s been a guy that’s been impressive to be around, I think a guy I can learn lots from defensively as well, just how he plays with his stick and defends so well.”
• Carrier: “Obviously he’s not the flashy guy, but he brings so much to the team. You need guys like him. … I feel like it’s someone who flies under the radar, but everybody in the room knows how much he means to the team.”
This is Guhle’s fourth year in the NHL. In his fourth year of junior hockey, he put it all together. There is a young team around him that needs guidance, and he’s ready to provide it. There is a skilled team around him that needs toughness, and he’s ready to provide it.
Star-level talent is vitally important to winning. But guys who keep the group together, who are ready to do whatever the team needs, are just as important to winning.
And in Guhle, the Canadiens have a perfect mix of both.
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Arpon Basu has been the editor-in-chief of The Athletic Montréal since 2017. Previously, he worked for the NHL for six years as managing editor of LNH.com and a contributing writer on NHL.com. Follow Arpon on Twitter @ArponBasu
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