Ranking the top Prospects in the 2020 NHL Draft: 24. Kaiden Guhle

The physically-imposing blueliner slides in as our 4th ranked defenceman

Kaiden Guhle (LD), Prince Albert (WHL)

H: 6’3″ W: 187 lbs

One of the more physical players in the upcoming draft, Guhle brings a new element to the game than most defensive prospects but can still produce offence from the backend.

His size makes him a real threat on the ice and opposing forwards dread getting him assigned to them.

2019-2020 Recap

GP: 64 G: 11 A: 29 P: 40 +/-: 23

Coming into his second season with Prince Albert, Guhle was expected to carry a heavier load and he did so without any problems.

Guhle wore the “A” for Canada at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup where he had 1 assist in 5 games for the team, despite his name not popping out on the box score, many pundits were impressed:

He wasn’t flashy, but he was effective, shutting down opposing team’s top lines and creating opportunities with his great skating.

Returning to Prince Albert for the start of the season, Guhle was riding the momentum of his stellar performance at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup and it showed in his play. Guhle recorded had a 4-point game in just his 6th game of the season and was fully on scouts radars. The steady defenceman was pretty consistent with his production throughout the season never going on any crazy scoring streaks, I expected a bit more offence but the way he performed on the ice doesn’t concern me about his production. Prince Albert despite being one of the better teams in the league didn’t produce much on offence, just scoring 210 goals in 64 games, they relied more on their defence, which is Guhle’s bread and butter.

Play Style

A steady two-way defenceman but with more redeeming qualities on the defensive end than most, Guhle will most likely be relied upon defensively more than offensively in the NHL.

What makes Guhle stand out from his peers is his great skating ability, he can absolutely fly with the puck and he does it with such minimal effort. Craig Button of TSN described his skating:

"“The number one skill Kaiden Guhle brings is outstanding skating ability in every single regard. Balance, agility, power, leverage and that skill allows him to close on opponents defensively”"

There are plenty of defenders with the size to match the position but most turn into turnstiles once they try to defend, with Guhle’s rare skating ability opponents have simply no way of beating him. There’s no weakness to his defensive game, he is a stalwart in his own end.

On the offensive side, Guhle boasts a heavy shot and one of the harder shots in the whole draft. When used on the power-play Guhle was usually used on his off-side so he could rip one-timers.

Guhle scored 5 times on the man-advantage last season.

Potential Trade-up Candidate

I’m all for the Senators using their extensive draft capital to trade-up for a player they really like and if that’s Guhle they should have no qualms. Of course, this depends on who the Senators take at 5, if they take a forward Guhle becomes a much more realistic option but if they take Sanderson at 5, Guhle would be out of the picture.

The Prince Albert defenceman will most likely be gone in the middle of the first-round so there’s virtually no chance the Senators can get him without trading up.