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Guhle looked great in his NHL debut

Cougars defenceman turns heads in Buffalo
Guhle in Buffalo
Brendan Guhle, left, receives some pre-game instructions from Cody Franson, his defence partner, during their game in December against the Boston Bruins. Guhle was chosen as the Prince George Cougars most valuable player.

If Brendan Guhle keeps playing like he did Saturday in his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres, it might be a long time before the Prince George Cougars get him back.
While it’s not likely, it’s not out of the realm of possibility he could stay permanently with the Sabres.
Tough as that would be for the Prince George Cougars and their followers to swallow, anyone who watched Guhle play for the Sabres in their 2-1 loss in Buffalo to the Boston Bruins in Saturday's nationally-broadcast game had to be impressed with the poise the 19-year-old defenceman showed on the ice.
Guhle played a regular shift alongside defence partner Cody Franson, made no glaring mistakes, and came to recording his first NHL point with less than three minutes left in the second period and the Bruins leading 1-0.
Guhle's point shot appeared to take Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask by surprise. He kicked out a fat rebound to Sabres captain Brian Gionta, who tried to kick the loose puck up to his stick, but it trickled into the net off the skate of Rask. The on-ice officials viewed the replay and determined Gionta had scored with a kicking motion and it was ruled no goal.
“I just tried to get it past the first guy - I thought it was going in at first, (Rask) seemed kind of startled when it hit him and (Gionta) was right there,” Guhle told WGN Sports Radio 550, which broadcasts the Sabres games. “In the WHL that's a goal every time, there's no kicking rule, I'm still used to those rules I guess.”
Guhle had another great scoring opportunity seven minutes into the third period when he jumped into the rush and took a pass at centre from Kyle Okposo. Guhle gained the blueline in alone and let go a high hard snapshot that Rask managed to deflect with his blocker.
“He certainly wasn’t shy about using his skating and jumping into the play,” said Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma, in the post-game broadcast. “He did that in the second period and did that in the third period and he shot the puck. I think he had seven shot attempts from the blueline, he was good in the game.

“He’s played with a number of these guys in exhibition games numerous times and I thought he felt real comfortable stepping right in and playing with those guys.”
Less than a minute after Guhle’s breakaway, the Bruins made it 2-0 when Patrice Bergeron batted down a high deflection as he was skating behind the Sabres' net and came around to bat in the loose puck. The Sabres answered right away with a goal from Evander Kane, his first of the season. They went on to outshoot the Bruins 18-12 in the third period but couldn't get the equalizer.

The Buffalo crowd gave Guhle a big cheer in the third period when he turned on the jets to catch Bruins forward David Krejci and break up the play after Franson got caught out of position.

Guhle’s first-game statistics include 16:20 of time on the ice in 16 shifts. He had seven shot attempts with four shots on goal and two blocked shots and finished with a plus-1 rating.
“That's one of the main traits of my game - simple, easy, not complicated, it's easy to do that with all those good players, you just give them the puck and your job’s done,” said Guhle.
“(Playing with Franson) made it super-easy. He was talking to me all game, making good plays and not putting me in bad spots with the puck. If I made a couple of screw-ups we'd talk about it on the bench and we'd just move on. He played a really good game and I was lucky to play with him today.”
Guhle was told after the Cougars morning skate Friday he was needed in Buffalo and arrived there at 1 a.m. Saturday morning, just 12 hours before game time.
They “told me I got traded to the Sabres. I was like ‘what?’” Guhle told the Buffalo News Saturday morning just before the game. “Then they said I was going, that they called me up because they had some injuries. That’s how it all played out.
“I wasn't even really sure that was allowed.”
Guhle's parents and grandparents from the Edmonton area attended the game, having traveled through the night to arrive in Buffalo at 6 a.m.
The Sabres were missing three of their regular defencemen - Zach Bogosian, Dmitri Kulikov and Josh Gorges - and had already brought in Justin Falk and Taylor Fedun from their AHL farm team in Rochester when they made the unusual move Friday morning to call up Guhle from the junior ranks.
According to capfriendly.com, Guhle signed an entry-level three-year contract last year that would pay him $707,333 US this season, not including bonuses or his $92,500 signing bonus. His daily salary cap hit is $3,910 US.
Because he is signed by the Sabres, they can keep Guhle indefinitely as an emergency fill-in, which will no doubt hurt the Cougars. They acquired him in a trade Nov. 19 from Prince Albert for 17-year-old defenceman Max Martin, 18-year-old winger Kolby Johnson, a first-round bantam pick in 2018 and a third-rounder in 2019.
The Sabres play Monday in Washington, then return to Buffalo to play the Edmonton Oilers. With none of the Sabres' injured defencemen expected to be ready to return, Guhle will likely play in those games.