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Former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin made a smart decision when he decided to select defenceman Kaiden Guhle with the 16th overall pick at the 2020 NHL Draft.

“Size, skating, range, he has some offensive skills (and) he’s hard to play against,” Bergevin said after drafting Guhle. “He checks all the boxes for us.”

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Trevor Timmins, who was the Canadiens’ assistant GM at the time, said Guhle was “a horse” on the blue line, capable of logging lots of minutes while playing in every situation, adding he had the potential to become a core player for the team.

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That’s exactly what Guhle has become at age 22 in only his second season in the NHL.

Guhle logged 23:50 of ice time, scored a goal and blocked four shots in Tuesday night’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Oilers in Edmonton. It was a homecoming game for Guhle, who grew up in Edmonton and won the junior WHL championship with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2022.

“It’s nice to be back,” Guhle told reporters in Edmonton Monday after the Canadiens practised at Rogers Place. “Look at the (Oil Kings championship) banner first and it kind of brings back old memories. Saw that new mural there in the concourse. That’s kind of cool to see, me and a couple of the guys up there.”

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It’s easy to forget that Guhle is only 22 with the way he carries himself both on and off the ice. That’s something that really impressed former NHL player Marc Habscheid, who coached Guhle from the time he was 16 until 19 with the Prince Albert Raiders before he was traded to the Oil Kings.

“As good a player he is, he’s a better person,” Habscheid said during a phone interview after the Canadiens drafted Guhle. “He gets a lot of things that take young guys lots of time to learn. That’s just about work ethic and being a good teammate and caring more about the team. He cares more about winning than anything. He’s a winner is probably the best way to describe him.”

Guhle is logging big minutes this season — averaging 21:02 of ice time per game — while playing on the Canadiens’ top defence pairing with Mike Matheson and he ranks sixth in the NHL in blocked shots with 170. Guhle, who shoots left, is also playing on the right side.

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“I’ve been on my right side since probably November or December,” Guhle said before the Canadiens left Montreal for this five-game road trip that continues Thursday in Vancouver against the Canucks (10 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM). “I’ve got a lot of games, a lot of reps. You get more comfortable every game. Still working on a lot of stuff and still a lot of stuff I need to learn on that side of the ice. But I’m definitely getting more comfortable and I’m a lot more comfortable than I was.

“I got to play on the right side last year a little bit, too, so that helps a lot,” Guhle added. “Hopefuly keep improving at it and keep getting better because there’s definitely still things that you got to fix and work on. But I think it’s coming along.”

Playing against the opposition’s top line every night makes Guhle’s job more difficult. Guhle and Matheson were both minus-3 in the Canadiens’ 5-2 loss to the Flames Saturday in Calgary.

“We really like Guhls,” Trevor Letowski, who is filling in as head coach while Martin St. Louis deals with a family issue, told reporters in Edmonton on Monday. “He’s a young defenceman. We’ve given him a lot of responsibility. We sometimes worry about that a bit because he’s a young player and that’s a tall task almost every night to play against the top players in the league. But we feel he’s a pretty special player. He’s getting better and better. He has his setbacks, I think, just like any young player in that position would. But he’s handled himself great. We love his demeanour and his daily habits. It bodes well for his future. He continues to get better.”

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The Canadiens lack depth on the right side of the blue line and that’s a big reason why they selected right-shot defenceman David Reinbacher with the No. 5 overall pick at last year’s NHL Draft. Guhle and Reinbacher — who joined the AHL’s Laval Rocket this week after completing his season with Kloten HC in the Swiss-A league — could eventually become defence partners as this Canadiens rebuild continues.

Letowski said he has noticed improvements in Guhle’s game from last season.

“He kills plays better, I would say, than last year,” Letowski told reporters in Edmonton on Monday. “He’s stronger, he’s quicker to pucks and he breaks pucks out cleanly when he’s on. He’s obviously not on every night, but when he’s at his best he’s defending hard and he can get up the ice, too. He’s got a good pace.”

There are a lot of good things about Guhle.

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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