With the Habs returning all seven defencemen from last season, it wasn’t shaping up to be a big battle in training camp. However, with Kaiden Guhle now out for at least a month, there’s now a real opening to battle for.
In recent days, there have been varying reports about Guhle’s status. On Wednesday, the Habs revealed that he underwent minor surgery to his adductor muscle this summer. If that sounds familiar, he had surgery on that last year as well. The current timeline for a return is four to five weeks. That would have him set to miss the first two to three weeks of the regular season, given that the campaign starts in less than two weeks.
While Adam Engstrom and David Reinbacher have shown flashes that they’re ready for a longer NHL look, the full group returning made the odds of one of them breaking camp limited. Unless one of them locked down a top-six spot and the Canadiens were willing to roster eight defencemen, both were likely candidates to be heading back to Laval. After all, teams want their promising youngsters playing, not sitting in the press box.
But now, there’s a top-six spot to play for and the team doesn’t have to carry eight blueliners as a byproduct of a youngster potentially cracking the back end.
Engstrom is the more experienced of the two prospects, having gotten into 15 games with the Habs last season. He is an all-around top-pairing player in the minors and doesn’t have much to prove down there. While he’s a left-shot defenceman, he can comfortably play both sides; that versatility could be appealing if that meant Lane Hutson could operate on his natural side.
On the other hand, Engstrom doesn’t bring any unique dimensions to the table. He’s a dynamic skater but so are others on Montreal’s back end. He’s a good puck-mover, but again, so are others. And he’s not overly physical, a dimension that they’re missing with Guhle out.
Reinbacher is the less experienced of the two and is coming off his first somewhat healthy season since being drafted. He didn’t look out of place in two late games with the Habs in 2025-26 and played big minutes in Laval, though he wasn’t counted on at quite the level that Engstrom was. There is more for him to work on with the Rocket from a development standpoint.
However, Reinbacher does bring some things that the Habs need. He’s a right-shot defender. He’s physical, helping to replace that element lost with Guhle’s injury. I suspect that if he were in the lineup, he’d even see some spot penalty killing time, helping fill that void as well. I’m not as certain that Engstrom would get that same opportunity.
Engstrom and Reinbacher were already in a spot where they were going to get a chance to get a long look in the preseason. Of course, that basically means they’d get into three games, as that’s as many as they can play in with two split-squad contests. Now, there’s a real shot for one of them to make the top six.
It should be noted that Guhle’s injury also provides an opportunity for both Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj. Normally, one is in and one out but it’s possible that both could be in the top six as well. As the incumbents on the roster, they’re going to get a real look as well.
If Martin St. Louis decides to have those two in the top six, then the calculus changes a bit. Yes, they could keep one of Engstrom or Reinbacher up, but only if the expectation was that they’d play somewhat regularly. Otherwise, then it might make more sense to send both down and have a seventh defender who they’re more comfortable with sitting. Think Reilly Walsh or Maksymilian Szuber, for example. The Habs aren’t too worried about their development and those players would be content with a couple of weeks of NHL salary, even if they didn’t see any action.
There are a few ways this could go. With the other battles being few and far between, this will be one to keep an eye on.