NHL insider Pierre LeBrun shines lights on Montreal Canadiens' trade plans to replace brutally injured $33,300,000 Kaiden Guhle

NHL insider Pierre LeBrun shared on TSN's Insider Trading that Kaiden Guhle’s injury won't change the Canadiens’ trade plans. Guhle had surgery on Wednesday to repair a lacerated quadriceps muscle.

Guhle is out indefinitely, following his exit in the third period from Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets He had crashed into the boards awkwardly.

Drafted 16th overall in 2020, Guhle is playing his third NHL season. Last season, he had six goals and 22 points in 70 games. Following that, he signed a six-year, $33.3 million contract extension on July 31, 2024.

LeBrun said that the team won't look for a rental defenseman to replace Guhle.

"It really doesn't the bigger picture still trumps all for the Montreal Canadiens," LeBrun said. "Obviously, it's a brutal injury, will hurt their chances of trying to make the playoffs. But the reality is, they're going to stay with their current plan, which is they're not going to go out and try and replace Guhle with a rental defenseman and pay the rental prices.

"To salvage the season that way, the Habs have had discussions with teams - the kind of trade that they would make, and that was even before this injury - would be the kind of trade they would do in June or July, ie, a bigger impact deal, that can help this team beyond this season. That's really their focus."

LeBrun added that their version of “buying” would be staying in the playoff race and keeping their pending free agents.

"Having said that their version of being buyers would be staying in the race between now on March 7, and keeping a lot of their pending UFAS, as Darren Drager once coined it - 'their own rentals', that would be their version of buying," LeBrun said.

Before the injury, Kaiden Guhle had four goals, 14 points, 67 hits and 100 blocked shots in 44 games.

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Habs lost their first game after Jayden Struble replaced Kaiden Guhle

In response to Kaiden Guhle’s injury, Montreal recalled Jayden Struble from the AHL’s Laval Rocket. This season, he has two goals and three assists in 27 NHL games.

The Canadiens lost their first game with Struble in the lineup on Thursday against the Minnesota Wild. They lost in a 4-0 shutout in front of their home crowd at Bell Centre in Montreal.

The Canadiens are seventh in the Atlantic Division with a 24-22-5 record. They are three points behind the third-placed Ottawa Senators. Kaiden Guhle’s absence may make it tougher for them to stay in the race.