Martin St-Louis and the Canadiens are hiding an injury to a key player

Kaiden Guhle wasn't on the ice at Brossard Thursday, and the Montreal Canadiens haven't said why.

That's two straight days now. Guhle skated in a regular training jersey on Tuesday, according to a report from Patrick Guillet. Wednesday, nothing. Thursday, still nothing.

He was physically present at the Canadiens' practice facility both days. He just wasn't wearing skates.

For a team that leans hard on this kid to eat minutes on the blue line, that's not a small detail.

Guhle finished last season with 11 points in 39 games, a plus-5 rating and two game-winning goals. Those are top-pairing numbers for a 24-year-old.

Over his last 10 games of the season, he still chipped in three points and carried a plus-1 rating. The Canadiens don't have a lot of defensemen who move the needle like that.

Martin St-Louis has built his back end around Guhle's ability to log heavy minutes against top competition. Losing him for any stretch changes how that blue line looks.

Why Montreal is staying silent on Guhle's status

Here's the thing. Nobody from the organization has confirmed an injury. Nobody has denied one either.

That silence is doing a lot of the talking right now. Teams don't usually keep a $5,550,000 defenseman in street clothes at his own facility for two straight sessions without a reason.

Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's a maintenance day that turned into two. But when a player who was skating Tuesday suddenly isn't seen in gear for 48 hours, fans notice. Reporters notice, even in this time of the year.

The Canadiens finished last season 48-24-10, good for 106 points and a plus-27 goal differential. That's a group with real expectations heading into camp.

Losing a piece like Guhle, even for a short stretch, complicates how Kent Hughes and St-Louis want this roster to look on opening night.

Is this nothing? Maybe. But Montreal has a habit of staying tight-lipped on injury details, and that habit is exactly what's fueling the questions right now.