No Clarity For Canadiens On Status Of Carey Price

With just over a month to go until the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and then the beginning of unrestricted free agency, the Montreal Canadiens are trying to get a better understanding of where they could stand salary cap wise heading into each equally important event and beyond. One way they hope to do so is to find out what the status of Carey Price and his future is and according to Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes, that still remains very unclear.

“The only way we could have complete clarity is if we learned he could not play,” the Montreal Canadiens GM told the media in a Zoom call Tuesday. “We’ll just have to see how he responds once he’s back to the rigours of a regular season schedule. The draft is not as critical as, say, July 13, in knowing his situation. If he’s not playing, then we have the option of LTIR that we could use, but without that information we don’t have the luxury of using it.”

The last time Carey Price spoke publicly about his surgically repaired but still nagging knee was on April 30. In his end of the season press conference, Price said that he treated his start in the April 29 season finale for the Montreal Canadiens as if it could be his last ever start in the NHL.

“Yep. The whole day. …it was just an exceptional day for myself. I had a great sleep, it was just an A+ day,” Price replied when asked point-blank if he prepared for the 2021-22 season finale for the Montreal Canadiens as if ‘it may be it’

“So if it is it, then that would be great way to do it.”

While Price felt ok at the moment, he acknowledged that after returning in April for five starts, his only starts of the 2021-22 regular season, he doesn’t think he can handle a normal starter’s role anymore. He also said that he needed more clarity from the doctors he met with earlier that week.

“My honest opinion is no,” Price replied bluntly when asked of he could see himself playing 55-65 games next season. “I don’t believe that the current state, it would be sustainable for a whole season. So in that regard, again, I got a lot of question marks and fortunately for me, I got a lot of time over the summer to prepare so we’ll see.”

According to Kent Hughes on Tuesday, those question marks have not been answered yet and Price is yet to talk to or visit those doctors again.

Price finished the season with a 1-4-0 record , a 3.63 goals-against average and an .878 save percentage.