I have replied to this thread before but i do it again.
Before i said that Price seems to be overrated among Canadiens fans but he is at least among top 10 goalies in the world, maybe top 5.
Imo. There is 4 elite goalies in the league that are a notch level ahead of the others.
Those 4 goalies are (in no order) Rask, Lunqvist, Rinne & Quick.
Behind them are another group of goalies where Price is included, he might very well be the best of this group, thus making himself 5th. best in the world but that is all arguable.
Price is good, nobody can argue that and it seems likely that he will become an elite goalie in the league in the future, maybe the best goalie in the league someday? Maybe a Hall of Famer? Maybe... He just isn't there, yet.
The Olympic performance doesn't really count as an argument that he is ahead of the likes of Lunqvist and Rask, why? 1. Because it was a short tournament, 2. Lunqvist has a gold medal too as a nr.1 goalie from 2006 with great numbers and 3. Rask put up the same numbers as Price and in my opinion was clearly the best goalie in the 2014 Olympics AINEC.
Rask played behind Finlands defense that was mostly rookies, Price was playing behind the greatest offense & defense we have on the planet. Canada would have won the gold 9 times out of 10 with the same team expect for having any other Canadian goalie than price in net.
Finland would have gone nowhere without Rask, nowhere, even if all of our skaters that were injured would have played 9 times out of 10 we wouldn't have grabbed a medal without Rask (maybe if Rinne would have been healthy tho).
And Montreal isn't a borderline play-off team in the league, it's one of the best teams in the whole league, Price isn't dragging his team behind like some people are claiming him to do but he is one of the pieces off the puzzle that makes them good.
See this is the sentiment I don't understand. When Price plays behind a weak team (and yes, the Habs are pretty weak on both offense and defense) the team in front "doesn't count" but when Price plays behind a strong team (Team Canada), he's only good because of his team? In reality, the offense was pretty dry for Team Canada and Price was the difference in a few of the close games.
When Quick and Rask play behind powerhouses, the team doesn't count but when they play in the Olympics, Price is only better because of the team in front of him.