Habs' Price to meet with media next week
Published
Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said Wednesday that goaltender Carey Price will meet with the media next week as his playing future remains in doubt.
Price was placed long-term injured reserve this off-season due to ongoing knee issues. He told The Athletic in an interview published Wednesday that he does not feel close to returning.
“I’m just kind of taking it step by step, really,” Price said. “Again, my knee still isn’t doing great. Like, I’m still not walking up a set of stairs pain-free yet. I still don’t feel like my knee is in a place where I’m going to be able to play hockey. I still am getting swelling in my knee, even in my day-to-day living. It’s not a great-looking outlook as far as a hockey career when you’re struggling to get up and down stairs.
“So, I’m just trying to stay positive, and just trying to get my body to a place where I’m healthy enough to be pain-free in my day-to-day. That’s kind of my main priority right now.”
The 35-year-old played in just five games last season toward the end of the schedule as he spent much of the year recovering from an off-season knee procedure. In those five games, Price went 1-4 with a .878 save percentage and a 3.63 goals-against average. He won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy as the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. The season before, Price helped lead the Habs to the Stanley Cup Final, where they fell in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
He is heading into the fifth year of an eight-year, $84 million deal he signed in July of 2017. The contract carries a cap hit of $10.5 million.
The Anaheim Lake, B.C., native was selected fifth overall in the 2005 NHL Draft and has played 15 seasons in the Montreal crease. He has finished in the top five in Vezina Trophy voting five times, winning the award in 2014-15 along with the Hart Memorial Trophy.
In 712 career NHL games, all with the Canadiens, Price owns a GAA of 2.51 along with a save percentage of .917.
Canadiens Moving Forward
With Price's future uncertain, the Canadiens signed Jake Allen to a two-year, $7.7 million extension earlier this month, keeping the goaltender with the team through the 2024-25 season.
Allen, 32, is set to share the net this season with 25-year-old Samuel Montembeault, who is signed through next season at a cap hit of $1.1 million.
Price is currently joined on long-term injured reserve by forward Paul Byron. Hughes said Wednesday that Byron will remain out in the "short-to-medium term" due to a hip injury.