Yes, he will, but it's only because as a country, Canada has struggled to develop goalies, especially relative to our other positions. We haven't been developing goalies at all and it shows because we haven't had a young goalie come and knock Price or MAF off the mantle. Just a quick comparison to other countries:
- Russia has Vasilevsky, Sorokin and Samsonov
- The USA has Hellebuyck, Gibson, Demko and Petersen
- Finland has Saros and Kahkonen
Carter Hart was thought to be the guy, but he took a massive step back this year. Blackwood is still a maybe, not quite sure about him. Honestly, it will probably be Price or MAF almost by default...
It's certainly true, that Canada has seemed to struggle to produce that next "elite" goaltender to supplant Price for the future. But in fairness, most of those guys listed (Vasilevsky, Hellebuyck, Gibson aside) probably wouldn't be supplanting Price for Canada either. Not at this point. Not with him as the incumbent and still playing at a top level in the playoffs
right now.
I wouldn't altogether write off Carter Hart either. He had a rough year, but that can happen with young guys thrust into expectations like that, on a team that kind of imploded as a whole. He could very easily bounce back in the coming years. And there are other younger guys who have potential, even if none of them have clearly jumped out to a convincing start like some of the US/Russian guys.
If you look around the league though, it's not as though Canada isn't still producing plenty of solid NHL caliber goaltenders. A quick headcount, ballparks it at about a full third of the "roster goalies" (#1 and 2 guys) around the league, are Canadian. That's not nothing. It's just lacking that keystone "elite" young guy coming along to replace Price as heir apparent.
But then...Price is still showing in these playoffs, that he's still someone who would be incredibly difficult to supplant for Canada anyway. He's got the pedigree and track record, and is playing when it matters, at a more than high enough level to suit Canada's needs for an Olympic tournament. So there's arguably still some time to find that guy, if Price is still at this level come the next "top level tournament", that maybe buys you 4 years from whenever that tournament is, to find the "next guy", who might even only be 18 or 20 and in the minors or amateur level right now.