Former Prince Albert Raiders captain Kaiden Guhle is on the opening night roster for the Montreal Canadiens. (Keith Hershmiller/WHL)

By Rob Mahon

Raiders To NHL

Ex-captain Guhle headlines list of Raiders on opening night NHL rosters

Oct 11, 2022 | 10:25 AM

As the NHL season slowly begins on two different continents, Prince Albert Raiders fans will have plenty of opportunities to look at NHL games with a sense of knowing pride. After all, a lot of their former hometown favorites have cracked NHL rosters, some for the very first time.

NHL mainstays such as Josh Morrissey and Leon Draisaitl are with the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers respectively, but quite a few more recent Raiders have made the opening night roster for their NHL clubs.

Among them is former Raiders captain Kaiden Guhle, who was named to the Montreal Canadiens roster after a stellar preseason. Guhle played 156 games for the Raiders over parts of four seasons, including the 2018-19 WHL championship season. He finished his career in the WHL with another championship, this one with the Edmonton Oil Kings this past season.

In Anaheim, Brett Leason was scooped up on waivers from the Washington Capitals and is part of the Ducks opening night roster. Leason was a huge part of the Raiders squad that won the WHL championship in 2018-19, leading the team in both regular season and playoff scoring.

Fan favourite Parker Kelly, who suited up for 273 games as a Raider and was a huge part of the 2019 championship squad, has also cracked the opening night roster of the Ottawa Senators. After making his NHL debut in 2020-21, Kelly spent more time with the Senators last season (41 games) than he did with their AHL affiliate in Belleville (33 games played) and will open this season on the NHL roster.

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Of all the members of the 2018-19 championship team to get into NHL games, none has a longer NHL career so far than Noah Gregor, who played his 100^th game last season. It was part of a career-season in which he played 63 games for the San Jose Sharks and put up 23 points. He’ll begin the season on San Jose’s NHL roster.

Even though they lost Leason to waivers, the Capitals’ roster will feature a Raiders connection, as high-scoring Belarussian forward Aliaksei Protas will start the season with the team Protas made his NHL debut last season and went on to play 33 games, scoring three times and adding six assists. He played 119 games over two seasons with the Raiders and posted 120 points in that time.

The NHL’s schedule officially opened up in Europe on October 8. The full schedule will begin tonight, with the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers facing off at 5:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, followed by the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings at 8 p.m.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP

by Rob Mahon

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Ex-captain Guhle headlines list of Raiders on opening night NHL rosters

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