The Past, Present, and Future of Carey Price:

In the realm of the sports world, there has always been a sense of pressure to succeed. Being an athlete takes both an immense physical and emotional toll on a player. To an extent, these players are inevitably set up for adversity, especially in the high pressured environments of certain teams. However, even if it is unfair, sports players are aware of these necessary risks. Athletes need to learn to cope with risking their identities and image for the sake of others. These people risk the possibilities of constant criticisms and privacies in order to obtain their life-long dream.  For some players, there is a much greater risk. Specific cities demand and expect nothing but championships and success. For example, all-star players of the New York Yankees, the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, and goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens.  For the past decade, Carey Price has had the privilege of being placed into one of these types of environments. As the goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, Price has been the backbone and staple of the most storied franchise in the league. Surprisingly enough, despite his ups and downs, especially earlier in his career, Price has been able to persevere and stay with the same team his whole career. Considering all of the scrutinies he has received throughout his tenure in the league, it is very impressive how Price has been able to maintain even-keeled throughout the process. Most players in his position under constant scrutiny as a twenty-year-old would likely demand a trade. Price has faced this type of adversity from the moment he entered the league. Drafted fifth overall in 2005, many NHL insiders did not understand this selection. It has always been uncommon to select a goalie so early in the first round. It was even more unlikely knowing that the Canadiens had extreme depth at the goaltending position at the time. Even NHL insider Pierre Mcguire so elegantly exclaimed on national TV that he did not agree with Montreal's selection. Fortunately, for the habs and their franchise, this was the right move. After Jaroslav Halak’s miracle playoff run in 2010, he was ultimately traded away and Price was given the reigns as their future franchise player. Luckily, since then Price has been able to maintain the starting job at an elite level.  Considering his longevity in the league with a career save percentage of .917 and a goals-against-average of 2.49, Price should be considered a top twenty-five goalie of all time. Many people have criticized Price for his inability to win big games. However, Price is nothing but a proven winner and clutch athlete at his position. For example, Price has won multiple awards: the World Cup of Hockey gold, Olympic gold in which he was undefeated and had a goals-against-average of under 1,  AHL Calder Cup, and World Juniors Gold. Additionally, in the 2014-15 season Price won the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP, the Vezina, and Ted Lindsey award which is given to the consensus best players in the NHL voted by the players association. At the time, with players like Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby in their prime, this award in itself portrays the accomplishments of Price during that season. Unfortunately for Price, he has never had an elite defense in front of him. Sure he has played with some great individual defensemen like Shea Weber, PK Subban, and Andrei Markov. However, he has never in his career played behind a defense similar to the current defensive cores of the Blues or Lightning. One can not imagine what Price's career would look like if he had played for better defense in his career to date. As seen when he won Olympic Gold with Canada on a stacked team, Price was undefeated with a goals-against-average of under one. Hopefully, in the near future, Price gets the opportunity to play in front of a stout defense with the Habs. Some even say that if Price had not got injured in the 2014 playoffs, the Habs would have won the Stanley Cup. It would truly be a shame not to see a guy like Price win the Cup considering all that he has done in his career. Not many other people are more worthy than a chance at playing for the Stanley Cup than Price. Price is only thirty-two years old and still has many years ahead of him. Players like Fluery, Rinne, and Lundqvist are all examples of elite goaltenders in their late thirties. In fact, Pekka Rinne of the Predators two years ago won the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the league at age thirty-five. Also, considering Price's age, it is truly impeccable that he is the winningest goaltender in Canadiens franchise history. To put it into perspective, with 348 wins as a Canadien Price has more wins than Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden, and Patrick Roy. Although Price has played more games than all of those goalies, considering the dominant teams that Dryden and Plante played for, it is definitely an outstanding accomplishment.

Price's individual worth has been proven on multiple occasions. In the 2015-16 season, the Habs got off to a 10-2 start to the season with Price in the crease. Unfortunately, after Price had a season-ending injury, the Priceless Canadiens dropped in the standings and went 28-36-6 for the rest of the year. Additionally, the Habs have been the epitome of the struggle to find a bonafide backup goaltender to ease Price's workload in the regular season. Since 2010, the Habs have failed to provide a capable backup for more than one full season on the job. Once again, this is further proof that only one goalie on the depth chart could provide the necessities of an elite NHL goaltender. In fact, over the last two seasons alone both past backup goalies Antti Niemi and Keith Kinkaid have left the NHL. As a fan of the game, one can account for the Habs' lack of success in the past two years as a result of Price being overworked. In his thirties, the last two seasons Price has been the most relied on goaltender in the league. Last season, the Habs missed the playoffs by two points. If the Canadiens could have relied on backup Antti Niemi for one more game last season, the Canadiens season outcome could have been drastically different. Of course, an argument could be made that Price, the highest-paid goaltender in the league at 10.5 million dollar contract, on average, should be playing the most games at an elite level. However, goalies in this day and age cannot be held responsible to play seventy games anymore. Every team for the past four seasons has won with a viable backup goaltender. It has allowed players like Tuukka Rask, Matt Murray and Jordan Binnington to be well rested for the playoffs. Last season, according to the advanced stats, Price was among the elite goaltenders in save percentage above expected for goaltenders who played at least forty games (moneypuck.com). Considering that he played more than twenty more games than all three Vezina Candidates last season, one could make a compelling argument that Price was among the best goaltenders in the NHL last season. 

Not only is Carey Price known to be one of the most technically sound goalies of all time, but Price is also a class act of a player off the ice, as well. His quiet demeanor evokes a sense of confidence in the team. His work ethic is contagious in the locker room. Even if Price is in fact a bit overpaid, many other goalies in this league are too. Considering the Canadiens’ current situation with lots of cap space, Price’s contract has not been detrimental to the Canadiens personnel decisions and moves. Lastly, for the second straight year on the NHL players poll, Price was voted as the best goalie in the NHL. There is no better group of people to ask than the players themselves when it comes to the most elite players in the league.

Despite Price’s slight decrease in his numbers this season, there is no reason to not believe that Price can bounce back next year and continue to have success in the future. He has done it multiple times before. Especially given that recently, General Manager Marc Bergevin has exclaimed that he wants to make a big move this offseason. Goalies are capable of success into their late thirties. If the rumors of an extended 24 team playoff format this season are true, then Price will the opportunity to once again prove his current worth with the team. This will enhance both the fans and ownership’s confidence that Price can be an adequate goalie in the future. Price can once again prove that he has not lost a “step” in his overall game. Price does not rely on his athleticism as other goalies do. Although Price is athletically capable like other goalies, Price relies more on his hockey sense and position to succeed. This in itself should give Canadiens management an extra sense of confidence in their star player. While acknowledging this, the Habs cannot merely just rely on Price and all-star defenseman Shea Weber. Price has already carried this team for too many years, similar to the playoffs in 2014. If they want to become perennial and legitimate Stanley Cup contenders in the near future,  the Habs will need to acquire assets for their team, specifically a viable backup goaltender. When Price is healthy, there is no one in the league who is more valuable to his team than the Canadiens franchise goaltender.