Habs sign Kaiden Guhle to six-year extension

A busy week for the Habs continued on Wednesday as the Canadiens announced that they’ve signed defenceman Kaiden Guhle to a six-year contract extension.  The deal, which kicks in for the 2025-26 campaign, will carry a cap hit of $5.55 million.

TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie relays that the contract breaks down as follows:

2025-26: $2M base salary, $5M signing bonus
2026-27: $5.25M salary
2027-28: $6.55M salary
2028-29: $5M salary
2029-30: $5M salary, five-team no-trade list
2030-31: $4.5M salary, five-team no-trade list

The contract buys out Guhle’s four remaining RFA-eligible years plus two UFA-eligible seasons.  Those last two were the only ones where he was eligible for any form of trade protection.

The 22-year-old was a first-round pick by Montreal back in 2020, going 16th overall.  After two strong seasons in the WHL to wrap up his junior career, Guhle made the jump to the Canadiens for the 2022-23 season.

In his rookie year, Guhle had 18 points in 44 games but missed considerable time with leg and ankle injuries.  Still, when healthy, he logged over 20 minutes a night, an impressive total for a 20-year-old.

Last season, Guhle was able to stay a bit healthier, suiting up 70 times.  His offensive numbers only improved slightly though as he collected 22 points.  That said, he also spent a lot of time on his off-side with Montreal’s right-shot depth not being as deep while also logging some key defensive minutes.  He chipped in with 178 blocked shots and 116 hits along the way while upping his ATOI to 20:51 per game.

Now clearly entrenched as a core part of the plans on the back end, GM Kent Hughes saw fit to work out a deal now instead of waiting to see how Guhle performs next season, a performance which could have upped the asking price.

In 2024-25, it seems likely that Guhle will once again spend some time on his off-side, especially with the departure of Johnathan Kovacevic to New Jersey just after the draft.  David Savard, the top right-shot option, has been a speculative trade candidate going back to last season so it’s possible that their right-shot depth could be further depleted at some point during the campaign, perhaps closer to the trade deadline which should come at some point in March.

Either way, Guhle will be quite busy on Montreal’s blueline for next season and plenty more years to come.