Come on, that’s just horse****. He’s had a bad season, but so did the whole team. This guy is a generational (goalie) talent. He carried the Habs for years with a mediocre lineup to the playoff and even further. He won everything but a stanley cup yet and he’s only 31. Personally, I have yet to see a goalie that declined at 31. Look at Brodeur, Roy, Lundqvist, Hasek, Luongo and to some extent goalies like Anderson and Thomas who kept an elite level of play until their late 30’s.
Price still has at least another solid 6 years of prime before he starts declining. A 6 years contract would’ve been the best but we all know how it works. It was either 8 years or nada.
10.5M/year is currently in #’s for a franchise player and starting next year with all the superstars needing a new contract, we will see A LOT more 10M+ a year contract and Price’s will suddenly not seem so bad after all. The % of total cap hit he will take will go down every year so if he can keep up his play for another 6 years and still have competitive #’s for his last two, I think his last 4 years of his contract will be a steal (less than 10% of total cap).
As for his value, I don’t know. I guess a package isn’t going to be enough or have enough value to make it worth for the Habs. My bet, it would need to be a 1v1 trade for a similar talent at another position. Think Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson, Doughty type of players (Superstars +/- 5 years his age)