Canadiens Send Carey Price to San Jose
The Montreal Canadiens have made a significant move by trading goaltender Carey Price to the San Jose Sharks this Friday. In return, the Canadiens receive defenseman Gannon Laroque and a fifth-round pick in the 2026 draft.
Price hasn’t played in the NHL since April 29, 2022. He was limited to just five games in the 2021-22 season after surgery for a meniscus injury suffered the previous summer. He was placed on long-term injured reserve before the 2022-23 season and has remained there ever since.
This is the final season of Price’s eight-year, $84 million contract. After the Canadiens paid him a $5.5 million signing bonus on September 1, they were able to trade his $10.5 million cap hit to San Jose.
Before Friday’s transaction, Montreal was over the NHL salary cap by $5.9 million. The Canadiens are now projected to have $4.56 million available in cap space.
Price played his entire career in the NHL, 712 games, with Montreal, recording an overall save percentage of .917 and a GAA of 2.51. One of the most decorated goaltenders of his generation, Price was the first goaltender to win the Hart Trophy, the Vezina Trophy, the Ted Lindsay Award, and a share of the William M. Jennings Trophy in 2015. He has also earned the most wins (361) by a Canadiens goaltender in franchise history.
The Price family was preparing for a possible move out of Montreal. Price’s wife, Angela, was asked on social media earlier this week how she would feel about the Canadiens trading Price’s contract, and she replied that “[p]robably [feels] the same as most of Montreal would feel… But, ultimately, you want what’s best for the team”.
Upon being traded to Price, the Canadiens obtained Laroque, a 22-year-old defenseman. The right-shot defenseman, who was selected in the fourth round, 103rd overall, by San Jose in 2021, has yet to make his NHL debut.
