Skip to content
Your daily dose of hockey
Behind the scenes, Kaiden Guhle has an excellent World Championship
Credit: Photo by Andrea Branca/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

Since the start of the World Championship, there’s been a lot of talk about Cole Caufield, who doesn’t seem to be having any fun. The talk is of Juraj Slafkovsky, who is clearly where he belongs.

There’s even talk of Oliver Kapanen, who’s running at top speed.

But we’re not really talking about Vinzenz Rohrer (for obvious reasons) or even Kaiden Guhle. And yet, the young Canadian stud has a good tournament on the Canadian blue line.

In fact, since the start of the tournament, he has played six games. He’s collected one goal and added four assists, bringing him close to the sacrosanct point-per-game mark… as well as having a positive differential: +3.

Seeing him score, as he did last week, is no mean feat.

You can also feel his involvement, as he stood up for Dylan Cozens yesterday. He took a penalty in the process (his only one of the tournament so far), but he doesn’t seem to mind.

He did it for the club.

The interesting thing about all this is that it allows him to finish the season strong (and not as an injured player with the Montreal Canadiens) in his country’s colors.

He didn’t make the same decision as Nick Suzuki, Samuel Montembeault and Mike Matheson (and that’s not a wasted bullet I’m throwing at the other three, who surely had their reasons for saying no) and in his case, it was the right thing to do.

Why was it the right thing to do? Because it prepares him for next season, which will be an important one, because it puts him in meaningful games… and because it puts him on the map for the 2026 Olympics.

Because yes, the player himself wants to take part, as he told Luc Gélinas, who obtained an interview with him.

Obviously, we’re not saying he’ll be Canada’s #1 defenseman at the Games. However, if he performs well in 2024-2025 and some of the country’s big defensemen turn down Canada’s invitation or get injured, Guhle could move up the pecking order.

To be continued in due course.


In bursts

– A name to remember.

– If he’s not good on the ice, he’s good at evaluating himself.

– Let the youngsters develop.

– Isn’t it?

More Content