Montreal Canadiens’ Carey Price left unprotected

By Neil Becker

Shockingly, goaltender Carey Price might have played his final game with the Montreal Canadiens.

Price, who was selected by the Canadiens fifth overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, has over his career become a fan favorite in Montreal. During his illustrious career, which saw him start 695 games, Price has posted a tidy overall record of 360-257 along with a career 2.50 G.A.A. and 49 shutouts.

Approximately a month after playing a key role in backstopping Montreal to the Stanley Cup finals, Price was surprisingly left unprotected for the upcoming Seattle Kraken expansion draft.

In leaving Price unprotected, Montreal General Manager Marc Bergevin is taking a huge gamble that the expansion Seattle franchise will be scared of by the goaltender’s current contract which has five years remaining with a 10.5 million annual cap hit.  

“The one thing that we think is extremely, extremely valuable in this environment is cap space,” Seattle general manager Ron Francis told ESPN.com. “We’ve got $81.5 million of cap space to play with so that’s certainly something that we want to make sure we try and take advantage of moving forward.”

This veteran goaltender, who is 33 years-old, recently waived his no-trade clause. Seattle has some serious thinking to do as Price is also owed in September an $ 11 million dollar signing bonus.

Another factor for Seattle to consider is that Price is scheduled this month to see a doctor in New York regarding a problem with hip and knee. Surgery might have to be performed on his knee which of course will mean missing some of next season.   

If Price is selected by Seattle, you can bet there will be a lot of anger and frustration in Montreal.

The Seattle Kraken expansion draft will take place on Wednesday, July 21, 2021 at 8 p.m.