Prospect Info: Kaiden Guhle Part 4
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Responding in here so as to not take Mailloux thread off topic.
The fact that Guhle is not as good a skater as Cale Makar or prime Erik Karlsson does not mean it is solely the domain of crazed partisan fanatics to watch a guy who's 6'4 210 who's explosive, fast, has excellent gap control, moves laterally very well, is agile changing directions with the puck, and has excellent edgework he uses defensively to avoid putting himself in riskier defensive positions and call that great. Just because he's not typically circling the offensive zone or carrying the puck up the ice himself does not mean his skating can't be described as great, It's the core reason he is so effective as a rush defender and allows him to unlock considerably more value from his physicality than other players with a similar frame, and makes the projection self-evidently much higher than someone like Mete who is an elite skater but has zero physical game to speak of.
The thing that makes potential top pair projections a long-shot is his overall level of offensive refinement and vision as his offensive zone play and initial transition passing can be too simple and he takes a lot of uncreative low value wrist shots off cycle plays. His offensive game is not dynamic, but his skating absolutely is, he just uses it in service of defensive plays and smothering opposition rush chances rather than skating the puck up the ice on his own.
I haven't watched enough of Mailloux yet to form a strong opinion on his skating, but derisively comparing Guhle's skating to the handful of the absolute best skaters in the world to say it's not great is silliness, especially when comparing guys with minimal to average physical games to someone who projects as an excellent physical player in the NHL. Guhle is a strong skater. He is not an elite skater, but unless you're defining elite as the 99th percentile and great as the 95th percentile I really struggle to see why it's an easily dispensed superlative to describe Guhle's skating as great. It's not inherently rational to dismiss non-elite tools as uninteresting for not being among the absolute very best handful in the world.
The fact that Guhle is not as good a skater as Cale Makar or prime Erik Karlsson does not mean it is solely the domain of crazed partisan fanatics to watch a guy who's 6'4 210 who's explosive, fast, has excellent gap control, moves laterally very well, is agile changing directions with the puck, and has excellent edgework he uses defensively to avoid putting himself in riskier defensive positions and call that great. Just because he's not typically circling the offensive zone or carrying the puck up the ice himself does not mean his skating can't be described as great, It's the core reason he is so effective as a rush defender and allows him to unlock considerably more value from his physicality than other players with a similar frame, and makes the projection self-evidently much higher than someone like Mete who is an elite skater but has zero physical game to speak of.
The thing that makes potential top pair projections a long-shot is his overall level of offensive refinement and vision as his offensive zone play and initial transition passing can be too simple and he takes a lot of uncreative low value wrist shots off cycle plays. His offensive game is not dynamic, but his skating absolutely is, he just uses it in service of defensive plays and smothering opposition rush chances rather than skating the puck up the ice on his own.
The habs need to do what they have done very briefly in the last 25 years when they had markov and subban at the same time.
Get a young RH no 1 defenceman to play with Guhle. That duo will be your anchor on defence and give you a competitive edge versus many teams
Get a young RH no 1 defenceman to play with Guhle. That duo will be your anchor on defence and give you a competitive edge versus many teams
salbutera
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Do people recall how long it took Markov to become a legit 1st pair Dman? Didn’t happen overnight, he struggled with the task for nearly 5-seasons even though he was handed it on a silver platter
CheldishGamibno
Turtles & Refrigerators
It's crazy to me because Markov was drafted as a forward, didn't took him too long to learn the job to become elite at it.
Mailloux may well end up being that pairing partner for Guhle.
Mailloux's skating is hard to get a good read on because he glides so effortlessly and breezes past his peers while doing as much. I'm curions to see if it's just because of the lesser talent in Juniors than professional hockey?
Mailloux's skating is hard to get a good read on because he glides so effortlessly and breezes past his peers while doing as much. I'm curions to see if it's just because of the lesser talent in Juniors than professional hockey?
SOLR
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Mailloux was a top 15 talent at the draft...lots of team stayed away for you know what reason.
This is a good hockey player.
Sterling Archer
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Just hope the Guhle Mailloux dream pairing isn't the latest iteration or Beaulieu Tinordi .
I just puked a little. Thanks a lot!
ChesterNimitz
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Mailloux's ceiling is higher than either Beaulieu or Tinordi, while Guhle's floor is higher than either Beaulieu or Tinordi.
WinterLion
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1909
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He was not drafted as a forward. he had switched to D way before being drafted.
1909
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Hainsey had a long and good overall carreer, though.
Sterling Archer
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JC Superstar
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SOLR
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Not so sure about that... Beaulieu was the highest ranked of the 4 in their respective draft classes, the only one with multiple top 10 ratings.
Guhle's probably made the most D+1 progress, but Mailloux's probably made the least.
Hopefully both get closer to their ceilings than Nate or Tinordi did, but it'll be a few years before we know that.
Flavor of the month always taste better than "last years" hype.
Legend123
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how how Maillouix made the least? He just started and is on fire. he's looking quite good in his D+1 year
"He just started"... 2 games in his first season post draft, 1/2 into the OHL year.
All 3 of the other guys made big strides in their D+1 seasons... (granted for guhle it was only really at the WJs since his season was a covid victim).
mailloux may show the same, but 2 games is hardly enough of a litmus test
Schooner Guy
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Beaulieu was considered a steal when we got him and Tinordi looked like a sure thing after captaining USA in both WU18 and WJC. You never know how these kids will progress once they get to higher levels...espcially Dmen.
Legend123
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Guhle barely played last season. I don't understand u at all.
Double standards
Habs Halifax
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Leon Lucius Black
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In the Hainsey days, it was the Hainsey - Komisarek future pairing.
As much as we like to overrate our prospects, I don't think many Habs' fans ever had hope for Fischer lol.
Pompeius Magnus
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I sorta did, very early on . That first pro camp did temper it quite a bit, almost immediately. He was ridiculously raw.
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