Canadiens focused on bigger picture, but could keep UFAs for playoff push
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The Montreal Canadiens are four points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and will have to continue that push without one of their best defencemen in Kaiden Guhle.
Guhle had successful surgery on Wednesday to repair a lacerated quadriceps muscle he suffered in Tuesday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets and has been ruled out indefinitely.
The 23-year-old blueliner is third on the team in ice time this season at 21:14, behind only the top pairing of star rookie Lane Hutson and Mike Matheson.
Despite the Canadiens having a legitimate chance to earn a wild-card spot this season, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun said the team will stay the course.
“The bigger picture still trumps all for the Canadiens,” said LeBrun on Thursday’s Insider Trading. “Obviously, it’s a brutal injury and it will hurt their chances of trying to make the playoffs. But the reality is they’re going to stay with their current plan.
“They’re not going to go out and try to replace Guhle with a rental defenceman and pay the rental prices that you would to salvage the season that way.”
Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes’ last two big moves were for players who had term remaining on their deals in winger Patrik Laine in August and defenceman Alexandre Carrier in December. Laine’s deal expires at the end of 2025-26 while Carrier will be a free agent in the summer of 2027.
LeBrun says the Canadiens’ version of buying at the March 7 trade deadline would be choosing to keep any one of their pending unrestricted free agents if they’re still in the race at that time.
The Canadiens have five unrestricted free agents on the roster in forwards Jake Evans, Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak and Michael Pezzetta, as well as defenceman David Savard.
“The Canadiens have had discussion with teams,” said LeBrun. “The kind of trade that they would make, even before the injury, would be the kind of trades you would do in June or July. For example, a bigger impact deal that can help this team beyond this season. That’s really where their focus is.
“Having said that, their version of being buyers would be staying in the race between now and March 7 and keeping a lot of their pending unrestricted free agents.”
The Canadiens have dropped four straight games and are set to head out on their California road trip starting on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks followed by the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday and the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. The team will have then back-to-back games against the New Jersey Devils and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Super Bowl weekend before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.