The Montreal Canadiens have lost their most complete defenceman for likely the rest of the season.
Kaiden Guhle suffered a lacerated quadricep muscle on Tuesday night that required surgery to repair. Guhle fell and cut his thigh with his own skate.
Guhle was playing the best hockey of his career becoming a true first-pair defender, strong in all aspects of the game. He can’t be replaced, but Jayden Struble was given the assignment against the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens had a terrible time generating offence, falling 4-0 as Marc-Andre Fleury got a shutout in his final game in his home province.
That is four straight losses for Montreal.
Wilde Horses
Being honest, only the runs time was a positive as this painful night took only two hours and 15 minutes to move into the loss column. Montreal starts a three-game home stand in California Sunday afternoon. They need to turn it around beginning in Anaheim.
From a Minnesota point of view, the longstanding ovation that Fleury received late in the third period was heartwarming. Regardless of the score, the fans in Montreal never lose their focus on history being made, and the importance of the moment.
Hopefully, for them, they will soon have their moments to celebrate again, instead of the visitors’ glory.
Wilde Goats
The Canadiens have only one win in their last 19 games against the Wild after yet another defeat. Minnesota is the best road club in the entire league, and they showed how they do it. They play tight hockey, relying on defence first.
They give you almost no opportunities. Montreal had only seven shots at the halfway mark in the contest. They had only one quality chance when Patrik Laine and Christian Dvorak had a 2-on-1. The Wild defender gave Laine the shot moving over to cover Dvorak. Strangely, Laine tried a pass.
By the time the Canadiens had their second chance, it was already 2-0 for Minnesota. The way they play, it was already over. The Canadiens had only eight shots in the first two periods.
It’s a four-game losing skid for Montreal. They are now on pace for 85 points. To quote Bob Dylan: It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.
Wilde Cards
Ivan Demidov continues his outstanding season in the KHL as he counted a hat trick earlier this week. On Thursday afternoon, he helped SKA St. Petersburg win in a shootout, with the winning attempt on an outstanding deke.
Demidov has 19 games left in his season, and he is already on the verge of passing the greatest seasons in KHL history in two prospect categories that are yardsticks for a successful career in the NHL.
The first is draft-plus-one where the top mark in history was turned in only last season with Matvei Michkov counting 41 points in 48 games. This season, Demidov hit the 48-game mark with 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 points. He will pass that, barring injury, next week.
The other yardstick of success is the best under-20 season held by Kirill Kaprizov who had 42 points in 49 games in 2017. His mark will also be obliterated shortly.
Comparisons with Demidov will be difficult in the future considering the schedule has expanded to 68 games this season. The easiest comparison is points-per-game-per-60 minutes, which is a smoothing mechanism that also factors ice time.
This is where Demidov absolutely shines in stunning ways. Demidov has a remarkable four points-per-game per 60 minutes of ice time. Next is Michkov with 3 PPG/60. No one else comes close.
Not to get into a long debate which of the two Russian prospects will be better — because both will be excellent in the end — but Demidov is also an outstanding defensive player second on his club with a plus-22. He also has a better physical profile, which is important in the NHL as well.
Demidov has a chance to be the first 100-point player on the Canadiens since Mats Naslund counted 110 in 1986.
It’s been an extremely long time since the Canadiens had this exciting an offensive prospect.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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