The main flaw in Guhle’s game per a recent take by a scout on 91.9 FM is that he’s not creative with the puck but makes a great first pass. His shutdown ability and meanness make him a throwback.
Assuming he were to rise to the level of a first pairing D, what kind of D partner might be optimal for him?
I’m thinking that for someone as defensively aware as Guhle is, you might be able to exploit a D partner who has a strong offensive game but who might be lacking somewhat on the defensive side of things, on the theory that Ghule can cover for him.
Reasonable assumption?
i think it's too early to pidgeonhole him. While he's not going to be a Karlsson or Hughes caliber offensive dynamo from the back end, there are quite a few elite top-pairing dmen that had similar tool sets (and limitations) to Ghule coming out of juniors who continued to improve their offensive games (or at least aspects of their offensive games) to eventually be considered elite all-around #1 dmen... Shea Weber a very good example of just that (he was considerably less productive offensively in the WHL in his draft year than Ghule was in his).
Ideally, he does progress that way and becomes the kind of top-pairing dman who elevates his partner, period. If he stagnates in his overall improvement curve and ends up more of a Robyn Regher type that is fantastic defensively but very limited offensively, then sure... a complimentary pairing with a mobile offensively minded dman might end up his best shot at playing top-pairing minutes.
Personally, based on the (granted limited) game footage i've seen of him + the kind of scouting reports about his approach to the game/work ethic/attitude, I'd be more inclined to wager that he's got a great chance at becoming a #1 dman, one whose game doesn't fully mature to 2-way high impact until his mid-20's.
