On August 16, 1987, in Anahim Lake, British Columbia, Carey Price was born. Who would have thought back then that he would grow up to be the winningest goaltender in Montreal Canadiens history? As he turns 38 this year, he’s just about to enter the last year of his mammoth eight-year contract worth 84M dollars.
In hindsight, signing a goaltender with known knee issues to a deal that would see him play until 38 years old might not have been a very sound decision, but Marc Bergevin had little choice. Price was the face of the franchise in Montreal when he signed the deal in 2017, and had he not received that kind of offer from the Canadiens, he would have gotten it elsewhere in the league and left the Habs in abysmal shape.
For years, the Canadiens had all their chips on their ace goaltender, and had they lost him, they would have been a struggling team with limited offence and questionable defence. They needed the goaltender to even have a slight chance of making the playoffs, and they couldn’t afford to let him go.
In two weeks, his last signing bonus will be paid. With just two million left to pay on his contract, it’s becoming increasingly likely that he will be traded, subtracting $10.5 M from the Canadiens’ salary cap and giving Kent Hughes some much-needed breathing room.
As we get deeper into the offseason, Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish remains an unsigned RFA, and one can wonder if Kent Hughes couldn’t be tempted to acquire him from the Californian outfit. While Montreal may be in a position to meet his salary expectations with Price’s contract off the books, the real question is whether they’d be able to meet the Ducks’ asking price in a trade. According to RG.org, Marco D’Amico, the Canadiens wouldn’t be willing to part with either David Reinbacher or Michael Hage.
This wouldn’t be a Kirby Dach kind of deal in which the Canadiens pay a reasonable price for a forward that has yet to pan out. McTavish has met expectations, and he wouldn’t come cheap. The fact that he remains unsigned is puzzling, given the Ducks' ample cap room, which makes the theory about his unhappiness with his potential role due to the team's depth down the middle interesting. He indeed wouldn’t be facing the same kind of logjam in Montreal.
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