Confirmed with Link: 6 year extension for Kaiden Guhle (5.5m AAV)

[Rapala]

I only see Guhle getting better at everything...

He is already our best decision maker on the back end.

 

[The Great Weal]

He doesn’t have the upside of a number 1 either imo.

You can't say that, you'll be labeled as a hater. Guhle to me seems like a Hampus Lindholm type player which is still a great player to have.

 

[Sagikev]

GM what great news today

This is what peak performance looks like

View attachment 898309

Guhle's toast, she's not even blond. Disappointed to say the least...

Now Habs inject Hutson, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Demidov, and possibly another top 6 F via trade in the next 2 years. You make it seem like they're the sens and don't have a really good pipeline

You just wait when Boucher makes the team!

 

[Milhouse40]

View attachment 898540

I don’t know how true/credible this guy is tho

Similar, not the same.....

 

[Walrus26]

Excellent reply ! Keep on being contrarian when the unanimous narrive is going one way. We need more pple like you on this site and in society.

You're not a number, you're a free man !

Nods at The Prisoner reference. Kudos.

 

[YukonCornelius 5thOA]

I only see Guhle getting better at everything...

He is already our best decision maker on the back end.

But are you aware he’s the only player in the league that gets body checked regularly?

 

[Andrei79]

I think Anderson can still bounce back to being a 20 goalscorer like how he has been for most of his career even if he's heavily flawed, it's not like his athleticism declined. Retaining 50% on him would put him at the same cap hit as a guy like Miles Wood who I believe is comparable. Gallagher on the other hand is cooked and will need a buyout.

I will be extremely disappointed in Hughes if he doesn't address these two next year, the roster spots they take up are more harmful than the cap hit. Being a bad team that gets 3 top 5 picks in a row and selling off vets is probably the easiest part of team building. The only thing that matters is how you build the team and add to these top picks. If he acts stingy by not wanting to buyout/retain Gally and Anderson when the team should be looking to be making a massive push, then it's a massive failure.

This is what bothers me too. It's the double whammy of 12M$ and two key roster spots that players like Beck and Xhekaj (Florian) will be fighting for next year. Anderson, while I like the physical tools, seems to really struggle to be anything than a wild horse as a player, so he's not very adaptable. Gallagher is, but unlike Anderson he has none of the physical tools. If only we could merge them into one 6M$ player.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Problem is we had a GM that had these nice contracts and a 3rd overall pick and couldn’t manage to build anything remotely resembling a contender. Heck forget contender, he couldn’t even build a team that was simply fun to watch. Even the 2023-24 Canadiens provided more on-ice excitement than those Bergevin teams.

Finally, something we can both agree on. Haha

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

There's little reason to doubt that Hughes can't attract some good UFA when the time is right.

Unlike our previous regime, Hughes is establishing a winning culture and making Montreal a fun place to play. There's a buzz around the organization and other players are noticing.

We won't need to blame it on taxes to defend this management group. At the very least they should be able to attract some decent players like Gainey was able to do.

Those games in 2014-15 were so bad. Price was so amazing not based on his stats but based on what he had to deal with in front of him and still led the Habs to a division title and 2nd in the east. Truly brutal times

 

[StreetHawk]

He's already better than Lindell, it's insulting, yes. Lindell produced 5 more 5v5 points in 60 more games as an obvious veteran playing on a powerhouse offensive team. He's also not physical, Guhle has played harder minutes on his off-side and is obviously better defensively.

And yes Esa Lindell is a good player.

Lindell has also been available over his 8 nhl seasons. Only 17 games missed in 8 full nhl seasons.

 

[The Great Weal]

To those of you obsessing over 5 on 5 production, would you say that Trevor Moore and Connor Garland are better than Nick Suzuki since they outscored him 5 on 5? There's nothing wrong with saying that Guhle likely won't do much offensively, I expect him to be behind Hutson/Mailloux/Reinbacher when it comes to playing on the PP.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

At what point do we start questioning if Hughes is too good for this team.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

At what point do we start questioning if Hughes is too good for this team.

Maybe everyone else were too garbage for this team. All about perspective

 

[le_sean]

At what point do we start questioning if Hughes is too good for this team.

Let’s start winning before rewarding him GM medals

 

[Mrb1p]

To those of you obsessing over 5 on 5 production, would you say that Trevor Moore and Connor Garland are better than Nick Suzuki since they outscored him 5 on 5? There's nothing wrong with saying that Guhle likely won't do much offensively, I expect him to be behind Hutson/Mailloux/Reinbacher when it comes to playing on the PP.

This is the first year in five that Moore outproduces Suzuki. Sample size matters. Guhle has had great 5v5 production in two of two years on a bad team while playing the like 5th toughest minutes in the league, on his off-side.

Swing and a miss.

 

[Mrb1p]

You can't say that, you'll be labeled as a hater. Guhle to me seems like a Hampus Lindholm type player which is still a great player to have.

Hampus Lindholm was a legit top D in his prime. Guhle is already around what he is at this point.

 

[The Great Weal]

This is the first year in five that Moore outproduces Suzuki. Sample size matters. Guhle has had great 5v5 production in two of two years on a bad team while playing the like 5th toughest minutes in the league, on his off-side.

Swing and a miss.

I was talking about this year. No swing and a miss, was Trevor Moore better than Nick Suzuki this year because 5v5 points is all that matters according to you? Moreover, David Savard should be on the PP ahead of either Matheson/Guhle according to your logic.

Hampus Lindholm was a legit top D in his prime. Guhle is already around what he is at this point.

He's not someone you win a cup with as a #1 dman.

 

[Mrb1p]

I was talking about this year. No swing and a miss, was Trevor Moore better than Nick Suzuki this year because 5v5 points is all that matters according to you? Moreover, David Savard should be on the PP ahead of either Matheson/Guhle according to your logic.

He's not someone you win a cup with as a #1 dman.

If Trevor moore does it on a regular basis he will obviously be seen in a similar light/better. Also would be curious to look at both players situation and context. Can't say I'm familiar with the Kings much.

The Panthers just won the cup with Ekblad/Forsling as their 1D.
Pittsburgh did it with Dumoulin.
Carolina did it with Kaberle/Commodore.

 

[Miller Time]

Let’s start winning before rewarding him GM medals

Hindsight medals are the easiest ones to hand out...

Worse, rewarding a GM based solely on outcomes is how we ended up with a decade of bargain bin... Even though it was clear by 2014 that he was full of sh*t, because the team's results improved considerably from the year b4 he got the job to year 2, Molson gave him that brutal extension.

Making good assessments is all about properly evaluating the process, rather than the outcome.

Winning can and does happen despite bad coaching/management... Gotta be careful not to conflate the two

 

[The Great Weal]

If Trevor moore does it on a regular basis he will obviously be seen in a similar light/better.

Surely you're joking right?

The Panthers just won the cup with Ekblad/Forsling as their 1D.

Yes they are the anomaly with probably the best defensive structure in the cap era.

Pittsburgh did it with Dumoulin.

If we have two generational talents up front then yes we can live with Guhle as the #1 dman.

Carolina did it with Kaberle/Commodore.

With Cam Ward playing like a possessed man.

If you think I'm just making excuses, your logic should say that Ben Chiarot can also be a #1 dman on a Stanley Cup finalist given how he played the most out of all our dmen during our run.

Better yet, why not explain how the Ducks, Wings, Pens x2 (with Letang), Hawks x3, Bruins, Kings x2, Caps, Blues, Bolts x2, Avs, and Knights also won the cup in that time span with elite star dmen instead of cherry picking 3 anomalies?

 

[overlords]

If we have two generational talents up front then yes we can live with Guhle as the #1 dman.

 

[Miller Time]

Surely you're joking right?

Yes they are the anomaly with probably the best defensive structure in the cap era.

If we have two generational talents up front then yes we can live with Guhle as the #1 dman.

With Cam Ward playing like a possessed man.

If you think I'm just making excuses, your logic should say that Ben Chiarot can also be a #1 dman on a Stanley Cup finalist given how he played the most out of all our dmen during our run.

Better yet, why not explain how the Ducks, Wings, Pens x2 (with Letang), Hawks x3, Bruins, Kings x2, Caps, Blues, Bolts x2, Avs, and Knights also won the cup in that time span with elite star dmen instead of cherry picking 3 anomalies?

Well, no...you stated that "Guhle is not someone you "win a cup with as him as your #1"...

That statement is false as soon as 1 cup winner with a lesser #1 is identified. Even 1 "anomaly" refutes it...

 

[Mrb1p]

Surely you're joking right?

Yes they are the anomaly with probably the best defensive structure in the cap era.

If we have two generational talents up front then yes we can live with Guhle as the #1 dman.

With Cam Ward playing like a possessed man.

If you think I'm just making excuses, your logic should say that Ben Chiarot can also be a #1 dman on a Stanley Cup finalist given how he played the most out of all our dmen during our run.

Better yet, why not explain how the Ducks, Wings, Pens x2 (with Letang), Hawks x3, Bruins, Kings x2, Caps, Blues, Bolts x2, Avs, and Knights also won the cup in that time span with elite star dmen instead of cherry picking 3 anomalies?

You're arguing alone and creating fake arguments.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

You absolutely cannot say that as of right now, he could be asking for a lot more than ends up costing more than what we "saved", especially at the age of 29 where he will have a more expensive follow up contract than 31. If Guhle ends up becoming a #1 dman on a cup contender, he's going to be asking for significantly more than the Sanderson-type contract, especially with a rising cap. Your point is heavily flawed, you can't predict the future.

What excuse? IF Guhle does end up being a #1 dman on a cup contender, Kent will be happy but would also regret not giving him an 8 year deal when he can easily ask for 10+million when he's 29 at the end of this deal. Seems like you're arguing about something completely irrelevant to what I'm talking about.

If Guhle were to get 10 M on his next contract, which is pretty high considering only 3 dmen are making over 10 M in the league right now, then he would make

6 years x 5.5 M + 2 years x 10 M = 53 M in an 8 year period.

If Guhle got the 8 years x 8 M contract = 64 M in 8 years

53 M or 64 M over 8 years? You don't need to be a mathematician to realize which is better for the habs.

Which is why Hughes refused to give him that type of contract and doesn't see him as a #1 dman on a cup contender. You're proving my point by saying he doesn't have that type of potential based on what he's shown so far. So you, me, and Hughes don't see that kind of potential. Doesn't mean he won't overcome that potential. That's all I'm saying.

Do you realize there's a lot more than potential that goes into negotiating a contract?

Caufield got a bigger contract than Slafkovsky. Do you really think that Hughes believes Caufield will be a more important player for the habs than Slafkovsky?

One of the reasons Slafkovsky got less was because he had accomplished less at the time of the contract signature. Slafkovsky scored 24 goals and 60 pts in 121 games when he signed his contract.
Caufield had scored 53 goals and 84 pts in 123 games + had a great showing in the playoffs as a rookie when he signed his contract.

It's absolutely relevant, it completely undermines your "point".

Which is why I said those guys you initially listed were bad examples. As if the Avs/Bruins knew their respective players would end up being top 10 players in the league lol. I never said Guhle can't/won't surpass his contract, but it's very obvious that Hughes would have held out for 8 years for longer if he saw Guhle as that type of top line player on a cup contender.

Absolutely not. My point is there are a ton of players who sign contracts that don't pay them to their potential. You don't need to be a top-10 player for it to be the case. I literally mentioned Gallagher and Pacioretty as examples.

Makar and Hughes signed a 6-year contract. So the idea that the contract has to be an 8-year deal is complete bogus.

Nobody expected him to be the player he is right now when he signed that contract, stop lying.

Dude, Pastrnak doesn't need to score 100 pts for his 6.66 M contract to be considered an underpayment. Being a ppg player at that price is already a steal, and he was a near ppg player at 20 years old before signing that deal.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

22 years old and playing on his wrong side, Guhle looks like the kind of blueliner who will be able to do it all. However, we’ve got an Uber offensive defenseman who’s probably going to take all the Pp minutes. That’s not going to help Guhle’s point production and some will point to that as evidence he’s not a number one.

I think he has all the makings of a number one. Needs to get bigger and needs to start playing on his natural side but I think he’ll be a number one caliber guy even if he doesn’t get the PP time.

As far as us not being able to win with him as our number one, we have such a whack of good blueliners, I don’t think it’s a valid argument. We have to wait and see how this all pans out but I think our blueline will be a strength whether Guhle becomes a stereotypical number one or not. There’s just so much talent back there.