The Montreal Canadiens continued to strengthen their long-term defense on Wednesday after signing defenseman Kaiden Guhle to a six-year contract worth a total of $33.3 million US.
The agreement, valid from the 2025-2026 season to the 2030-2031 season, will earn him an average annual salary of $5.55 million, said Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes in a press release.
“I believe a lot in this group of players, I’m ready to take the next step with them. Also, I love the city and the fans,” Guhle said of his decision to sign a long-term deal, during a video conference from Alberta.
Forwards Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky have all signed eight-year deals in the last three years and for Guhle, there was no doubt he wanted to continue growing alongside them.
“We have our core group of players for many years to come and I’m close to them as well as several other guys on the team,” added the defender. “I really believe in us and I’m already looking forward to competing alongside them every night.”
At the junior level, Guhle has always been considered a leader and he says he is ready to play a bigger role at that level in the coming seasons. He also says he has learned a lot from veterans David Savard and Mike Matheson.
“I’ve been fortunate to watch them over the last two years,” he said. “They’ve shown a lot of leadership to the younger players on the team. I feel ready now to take on a bigger role at that level.”
Lane Hutson and Logan Mailloux, to name a few, are two young defenders who could well benefit from Guhle’s valuable advice.
“Logan [un match] and Lane [deux matchs] played well with us last year,” Guhle said. “There’s going to be a lot of competition in training camp. I guess that’s a nice problem to have. It’ll be fun to be able to compete with them.”
Guhle played 70 games with the Habs in 2023-24, recording six goals and 16 assists, while serving 56 penalty minutes.
The Edmonton, Alberta, native ranked second on the team with 178 blocked shots, as well as third with an average of 20:51 in ice time per game (minimum of five games played).
Guhle, 22, played in his 100th NHL game on Feb. 29 in Florida against the Panthers. The six-foot-three, 201-pound defenseman has 40 points (10-30) in 114 NHL games since making his debut in 2022-23.
Guhle was selected in the first round, 16th overall, by the Bleu-blanc-rouge at the 2020 NHL Draft.