Exchanging his contract: Carey Price wants to help the Canadiens as much as possible

Carey Price chatted with the Montreal media this lunchtime. The first thing that comes to mind is this: Carey Price will no longer be able to play in the NHL.

What a surprise, you might say, from a guy who doesn’t even live in the city anymore.

Even if Price wants to play, he’s trapped by his knee. When he goes to play softball, he needs several weeks to recover, which isn’t exactly a good sign for an NHL goalie.

In short: nobody’s been holding their breath for a while now, and the goalie knows it.

Since there are no measures to help teams in these situations, the Habs are simply stuck, in the short term, with their $10.5 million contract on the chopping block. This will probably be the case until 2026.

Unless Price retires (which he won’t), he’ll be on the LTIR and causing headaches for his bosses.

The other solution would be to trade the goalie’s contract. And this lunchtime, Price was asked about this very subject, since he does, in fact, have a no-movement clause.

And he said he’d do anything to help the club.

One senses that it would be painful for him to leave Montreal, as he is proud to have belonged to just one club in his career, but sometimes it takes what it takes. And since it would only be on paper…

He says he’s ready to do whatever it takes to help the Canadiens.

When you listen to him talk, he certainly sounds like a guy who understands that his contract is up for grabs with a club working on a tight budget. And since he has the club at heart, he could help.

It’s worth noting that I don’t believe in a deal before the summer of 2025 – even if Kent Hughes has opened the door. After all, he earns $2 million a year in real money between now and the end of his contract, but has $5.5 million bonuses on July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025.

After July 1, 2025, he’ll have only $2 million left to earn, and will have a $10.5 million impact on the payroll, which will have increased by then.

The Coyotes are likely to take him, aren’t they? A “comeback” with his good buddy Shea Weber would be special, wouldn’t it?

In brief

– Things are really bad.

– Not to be invited to the same party as Mike Babcock, anyway…

– Will it happen?