Montreal Canadiens: 5 burning questions for 2018-19 season
By David Rouben
4. Carey Price will improve, but will it be enough?
In one season, Price’s contract went from one of the best values in the league to one of the worst. 2018-19 is when his eight-year, $10.5 million extension kicks in, and while you would understand the thought process behind that extension, he’s been hurt for two of the past three seasons and is now 30. It doesn’t matter how good he is, you don’t want to pay any goalie $10.5 million at age 38.
However, a fully healthy Price is the key to the Habs being competitive. 2016-17 was their first season of the post-Subban era, and he dragged an awful team to the playoffs. But once there, they ran into an even better goalie in the form of Henrik Lundqvist and they lost in the first round.
The Canadiens’ biggest crime has been that they’ve never been able to give Price any help, especially on offense. A perfect example is the 2014-15 season, when he won the Vezina and Hart trophies, yet they still lost in the second round because they couldn’t score.
Trading away Galchenyuk already makes the Canadiens’ offense worse. And on this Frankenstein’s monster of a team, Price may be the only constant. That’s why, even though we know he’ll be fully motivated to improve on his disappointing year and live up to his contract extension, it might not matter in the grand scheme of things since there’s only so much one player can do.
If the Habs are doing poorly, and they shift towards a rebuild before the trade deadline, there may be calls to shut down Price for the season. When you pay someone $10.5 million to sit in the press box, you know you’ve hit rock bottom.