Taking on one of the best teams in the NHL in the Winnipeg Jets, the Montreal Canadiens were looking to break a short skid of two straight losses on Tuesday night. Though a 4-1 loss may not indicate it, the Habs actually played a very tight game with the Jets at five-on-five, perhaps deserving of a better result than they received. If Connor Hellebuyck – arguably the best goaltender on the planet right now – wasn’t in the net they were trying to score on, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that they could have won.
At any rate, a loss against one of the best teams around – particularly given how well they played – isn’t all that concerning. Of significantly higher concern, however, is the status of Kaiden Guhle after his incredibly awkward fall in the third period.
Awkward fall for Kaiden Guhle, and I don't know if it's a knee or an ankle, but he was putting no weight on it.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) January 29, 2025
Hope he's alright. pic.twitter.com/slIB2qM4Ct
It’s hard to say what happened here, but it looks like his left skate caught a rut in the ice, which sent him very awkwardly into the corner boards. He came up clutching at his knee, but we have no information on what the specific issue is as of this writing. Last night, the Canadiens said only that he would require further evaluation, which of course lends itself to speculation that this could be something long term.
Losing Guhle for an extended period of time would be a significant blow to this team’s hopes of challenging for a wild card spot. Guhle has been their third-most used player at five-on-five, with only Lane Hutson and Mike Matheson playing more minutes in those situations. They do have a number of young defencemen developing in Laval right now, but expecting any of them to come up and immediately fill his shoes would be a tall task. He often eats some of the toughest assignments for the Habs at five-on-five, so to come up from the AHL and assume his role would be the epitome of ‘out of the frying pan, into the fire.’
For the time being, they will likely have to recall Jayden Struble, and elevate Arber Xhekaj to play more minutes. Depending on the length of Guhle’s absence, this could necessitate further moves – perhaps another call-up from Laval, or even a trade for some more established help on the blue line.
The good news is that the Habs have a number of young players looking for an opportunity, but the bad news is that jumping onto a team in a wild card race is a tough time for them to acclimate themselves to NHL hockey.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back on Thursday night, when the Habs will wrap up their home stand against the Minnesota Wild.
Editor’s note: At the end of the podcast I read the initial tweet from the Canadiens that Guhle was being evaluated daily. This news was contradicted by a subsequent tweet that he would require further evaluation, while the initial tweet was deleted thereafter. As such, my positioning of the initial tweet as good news sounds silly, but I had already uploaded the episode by the time they swapped the tweets.
