Canadiens’ Kaiden Guhle to return after missing 39 games

The Montreal Canadiens have announced that defenseman Kaiden Guhle will return to the lineup for Saturday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Guhle had missed the last 39 games after partially tearing an abductor muscle. He was originally projected to only miss four-to-six weeks with the injury, but opted to undergo surgery, which added an additional month to his timeline to return.

With the Canadiens having reassigned Adam Engstrom to the AHL on Thursday, no roster move needs to be made to activate Guhle off of injured reserve.

Guhle has one goal and one assist for two points in the five games he played before sustaining the injury. He’s better known for his defensive game, as his -0.071 5v5 regularized adjusted plus-minus expected goals against per 60 since 2022-23 is the best among any Habs defenseman.

At this point in time, how the lineup will shakeup with Guhle back has yet to be confirmed. He’d spent the early part of the season before his injury primarily with Lane Hutson, so that is certainly a possibility, although Hutson has spent a good portion of this and last season with Alexandre Carrier as well.

The one known aspect of how the Canadiens’ blue line will look with Guhle returning is that Jayden Struble will draw out of the lineup. Struble has six assists in 35 games this season.

Guhle’s return means that the Habs have one less injury to worry about, as they’re currently dealing with several different ones on the team. In addition to Guhle, they were also missing Josh Anderson, Kirby Dach, Jake Evans, Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook and David Reinbacher.

The Canadiens currently sit in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 25-13-6 record. They’ll look to build on a stretch of five wins in six games when they host the Red Wings on Saturday at 7 p.m. EST.