Even if Carey Price returned to his former form as he bullied the National League’s top scorers, could the Canadiens keep hopes of a playoff spot alive at the end of the 2022-23 season?
It is permissible to doubt it.
On the one hand, at 35, can Price have a major impact on his training? Make an impact, yes. But to the point of making the team a contender for the playoffs?
The answer is no.
Also, does Price skew the equation? Can the team afford a $10.5M goalie on the salary cap?
It’s downright illogical.
Especially since the organization’s highest-paid player has played a grand total of 149 regular season games since the 2018-19 season, the year he was awarded an $84 million contract.
A total of 149 games means an average of 37 games per season. In this regard, I understand that the last two seasons have been cut short by the pandemic. However, should we then consider that under conditions of 82 games, the Canadian would have missed the playoffs?
Standards to respect
In today’s environment, can the organization’s decision makers run the business on the assumption that the team will finish last while ranking first on the salary cap?
Price remains an elite goaltender, no one doubting the standards he has set over the years. But, can it meet these standards?
Will he play or will he not play? The most important thing is that even if he shows that he is completely healed from a knee injury requiring surgery, it will not change the situation.
Financial commitments
Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes will have to solve a major problem: financial commitments.
It will not influence the draft of amateur players, so they have no worries on that side, but the relaunch of the concession depends on staff capable of contributing immediately. So when the free agent market opens up, they won’t have any spending flexibility.
The ability to pay or spend will be reduced by the financial commitments expected for the next season. Let’s take a quick look at what the CapFriendly figures reveal. For next year, if we include the contracts of Jonathan Drouin and Shea Weber, more than $80 million is planned for 18 players. This includes 10 attackers, five defenders and two goalkeepers. Obviously, there is still the Weber file, which is rather complex, but which should be resolved during the off-season.
Meanwhile, next year, Nick Suzuki’s $7.875 million per season contract will kick in for the next eight years.
We can always put forward as an immediate solution the repurchase of a few contracts, but that would be standing still and we want to avoid throwing millions of dollars out the window.
However, the departure of Price would allow the leaders to bet on a new salary structure and to point their noses at the free agent market without compensation with the opportunity to hire new staff.
Right now, their hands are tied.
Therefore, exchanging Price would be a solution, but we do not expect to obtain a significant return. Oh, no!
- Buying out the contract is a possible but unjustified solution.
On the other hand, on the side of the goalkeeper, Price undoubtedly has an idea of what he wants to do.
- Does he want to continue the adventure with the Canadian?
- Did he ever mention that he didn’t want to retire without winning the Stanley Cup or being reminded that he never won the Stanley Cup?
- No doubt playing a few matches before the end of the activities will provide the necessary information and that he will be able to make a better analysis of his situation.
But, can we jump to the conclusion that Carey Price is part of the solution? Are we thinking of relaunching a concession with a 35-year-old goalkeeper, kept out of competition on several occasions in recent years?
Gorton and Hughes have already taken stock and have surely devised a plan to find a practical and logical solution for the Canadian and also for Carey Price.
Lafrenière: a rest?
Photo d’archives, AFP
Alexis Lafreniere
- Gerard Gallant claims that he granted a rest to Alexis Lafrenière, that there was no other explanation to provide. Perhaps he didn’t want to bring up the subject that the youngster had been kept quiet in his last eight games. Gallant says he’s been showing signs of fatigue recently, having appeared in 72 of Rangers’ 74 games, and that by the end of the season, other players will be given a bit of a break. However, if I look at Lafrenière’s record: 15 goals, all tied numerically, 25 points, it’s still respectable, especially with an average of 13.55 minutes of playing time…
- Watching the Canadiens on Wednesday night, we quickly drew a parallel with this team from the start of the season. Drive out the natural and it comes back at a gallop, they say. With four wins in the last 15 games (4-8-3) and a record of two wins and six losses in the last eight games, should we wonder if the Martin St-Louis effect has dissipated? I do not believe that. You just have to realize that the decision-makers have a lot of work ahead of them to relaunch this concession…
- Are we going to reveal to the general public the results of the investigation into the involvement of the National Hockey League Players Association in the Brad Aldrich file? Representatives from each of the 32 teams had until last night to vote on the findings of the investigation. At the time of this writing, the decision was not yet known…