Stu Cowan: Pricey question marks as Canadiens plot future


Will Price play another game for Habs? Will Shea Weber ever speak to Montreal fans again?

Article content

Will Carey Price play another game for the Canadiens?

advertisement 2

Article content

Will Shea Weber ever speak to Montreal fans again?

Those are two of the many questions surrounding the Canadiens as they head toward the March 21 NHL trade deadline and the off-season with their new management team of executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes.

Price started skating again last Friday and has been facing shots for the first time since having knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus in July, followed by a 30-day stay in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program dealing with substance-use issues.

Price spoke with the media for the first time since last season’s Stanley Cup final on Jan. 30 and said his goal was to play again before the end of this season. Price added there’s a possibility he might never play again if he continues to have setbacks in his recovery from what was supposed to be a minor knee surgery.

advertisement 3

Article content

Price is earning US$13 million this season — including an $11-million signing bonus he received in September — and has four more seasons remaining on his eight-year, US$84-million contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $10.5 million. He has signing bonuses in each of the next four seasons of $6.75 million, $6.5 million, $5.5 million and $5.5 million, with salaries of $1 million next season and $2 million in the final three seasons.

Price will turn 35 in August. If he can recover from his knee surgery and the Canadiens decide to trade him, you have to figure they’d need to eat half of his salary-cap hit in any deal. If the Canadiens decided to buy out Price this summer they would retain a cap hit of $10,083 million in 2022-23, $9,083 million for the next three seasons, followed by four seasons of $583,333 (all figures from CapFriendly.com).

advertisement 4

Article content

During an interview with Sportsnet’s Eric Engels this week in Vancouver, Hughes was asked where things stand with Price.

“I’ll leave that to our medical people to answer,” the GM said, adding it’s still possible Price will play this season.

It looks like Weber has played his last game, but nobody knows for sure because we haven’t heard a word from him since the Stanley Cup final. Former GM Marc Bergevin said before the start of this season that Weber’s career was probably over because of a series of injuries, but added he wouldn’t name a new captain to replace him.

That would have made sense if Weber planned to be around the team, but he has remained at his home in Kelowna, BC, while watching the wheels fell off the Canadiens. Weber has become the invisible captain, also not speaking to the media to let fans know what the future might hold for him.

advertisement 5

Article content

Engels asked Hughes if he’s trying to trade Weber and his contract to a team looking to reach the cap floor. The GM said he has received calls from other teams, adding there has been a lot of speculation and rumors that aren’t necessarily accurate.

Weber will turn 37 in August and has four more seasons remaining on his 14-year, US$110-million contract with an annual cap hit of $7,857 million. However, he will only earn $6 million during the next four years — $3 million next season, followed by three seasons at $1 million on his front-loaded contract that saw him earn $80 million over the first six seasons.

The arrival of Martin St. Louis to replace Dominique Ducharme last month seemed to fill a leadership void and the Canadiens have responded by going 7-5 in their first 12 games under the new head coach. With a win over the Seattle Kraken Saturday night at the Bell Centre, St. Louis would match the number of wins Ducharme had in the first 45 games (8-30-7).

advertisement 6

Article content

Assistant coach Alex Burrows said this week in Vancouver that Gorton, Hughes and St. Louis share the same philosophy on how they want the Canadiens to play.

“I think what’s working right now, the guys are buying in — total buy-in,” Burrows said. “Guys are having fun, they’re working for each other. A lot of guys are playing really well right now.

“Marty said the first day he came in it was a fresh start for everybody, it was a fresh start for the team, collectively,” Burrows added. “I think the guys really bought into that. They want to make the final 30-something games and build on that and be part of the solution. I know management’s looking at everything right now and guys want to be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem. I guess that’s what’s working right now. We’re getting some big saves from our goaltending, our defense are playing well and our forwards are stepping up. We still have a long way to go. We need to finish strong this season to build that foundation, so next year we’re ready to go right from Day 1 and we can get back to where we were last summer, spring and in the playoffs.”

The question remains what happens with Price and Weber?

[email protected]

twitter.com/StuCowan1

advertisement 1

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user follows comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your e-mail settings.



Leave a Comment