Former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price was in town on Sunday to attend the Cummings Centre Charitable event, where he was honoured as the sportsperson of the year. The Centre supports older people's mental health and well-being through its social services.
The British Columbia native posed for pictures with fans and participated in a Q&A on various topics. Still, the most interesting one was probably his possible induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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While Price is not officially retired, he hasn’t played a single game since April 29, 2022, when he manned the net for the Canadiens one last time in a 10-2 blowout win over a diminished iteration of the Florida Panthers. During that game, the masked man was seen wearing to his kids in the stands while the play was ongoing, a clear signal that it was his swan song.
In the post-game press conference, he said that if it were his last game, it would be the perfect way to go and that he went through the day acting as if it were. As the future would show, it was. After years of backstopping the Canadiens through highs and lows, recurring injuries forced him to step away from the game he loved.
The goaltender explained back then that he wanted to be able to play sports with his kids in the future and not constantly be in pain in his everyday life. It made perfect sense; no one could blame him for stepping away after spending 15 years in the most high-profile job in town.
Now that he hasn’t played for the last three seasons, Price will be eligible for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and some wonder if he’ll be elected in his first year of eligibility. For others, there’s no question that if former captain Sean Weber was elected right away, Price should also be.
Throughout his 15-year career, Price participated in 712 regular-season games, winning 361, the most any netminder ever had in a Canadiens’ uniform. He kept a 2.51 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. While he never captured the Stanley Cup, coming up short in the 2021 Final, he has won numerous individual awards (Jennings, Vezina, Hart, Masterton and Ted Lindsay trophies) in the NHL. He has had a successful international career, backstopping Canada to the Olympic Gold in 2014 and the World Cup title in 2016.
If you ask his former teammate, Paul Byron, if Price deserves to go to the Hall, he’ll tell you:
Look at his record with the Canadiens. Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, Jacques Plante, Georges Vezina…they are all in the Hall of Fame. His name is above theirs, which shows he deserves his spot.-
As for the GM who drafted him, Bob Gainey, he believes that both his longevity and his high level of play will earn him instant access to Toronto, he added:
He was the Canadiens’ most important player for 10.12.14 years. I don’t know his stats by heart, but I believe that’s why he must be considered for the Hockey Hall of Fame.-
We’ll know one way or the other on June 24 when the selection committee meets to decide who will be the next crop of inductees. If you ask me, all signs point to yes…
Photo credit: Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
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