Kaiden Guhle is demoted following a difficult weekend

This morning, the Canadiens announced that Kirby Dach will miss two to four weeks of action. Michael Hage needs to keep an eye on that…

This officially means that Dach will be out of the lineup for tonight's game. And since Zachary Bolduc has been practicing with Alexandre Texier and Jake Evans, he'll be the one to play.
We therefore expected the other lines to remain unchanged and for Bolduc replacing Dach to be the only change on offense. And that has been confirmed: Bolduc will return.

With Kirby Dach injured, Zachary Bolduc returns to the #Habs lineup after being a healthy scratch on Sunday. It also looks like Jayden Struble will draw back in place of Arber Xhekaj tonight vs. the #NHLBruins
— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) March 17, 2026

But there's something else to note: Kaiden Guhle's recent performances have prompted Martin St-Louis to shuffle his defensive pairings at this morning's practice.

Just hours before the game against Boston, Guhle practiced on the third pairing with Alexandre Carrier rather than with Lane Hutson on the second pairing.
Instead, it's Jayden Struble—who didn't play in the last game—who will be paired with Lane Hutson on the left. It's all or nothing with Struble, isn't it?
Hutson will therefore apparently still be on the right.

Martin St-Louis shuffles his blue-line pairings for morning practice just hours before the game against Boston.

Matheson-Dobson
Struble-Hutson
Guhle-Carrier
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontLNH) March 17, 2026

No surprises in net: the Canadiens are going with Jakub Dobes. The European was the logical choice for such an important game against Boston.
Will the Habs win? We'll see.

In a nutshell– Not today, apparently.

Would this really be the right time for the #GoHabsGo to call up David Reinbacher?#thesickpodcast @TonyMarinaro”
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) March 17, 2026

— Nice.

“Oh sh*t, here we go.”
Erik Karlsson gave the most brutally honest answer on live TV when Erik Johnson asked him what goes through his mind defending Nathan MacKinnon pic.twitter.com/xheEHJHqTf
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) March 17, 2026

That makes sense.

Pierre LeBrun: Re World Cup: Important to note the league did not announce the 8 countries; they still have that issue of Russia; I think they punted the ball down the road as far as they can – TSN (3/16)
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) March 17, 2026