News Article: Price comes in high

[Saint Patrick]

If Radulov walks then I don't know if Price will be a hab after his contract.

Clearly MB has a line in the sand he isn't going to cross. He isn't crossing it for Radu, he isn't crossing it for Markov and I think he will do the same with Price.

Where is that line for MB? Can't say I know. I agree with those saying MB and Molson know that Price = playoffs so they want to keep him here. But there is a threshold and so far it seems to me MB won't go past it.

Now if he signs Radu and Markov my opinion changes because it shows MB is willing to throw caution to the wind.

Price is different though, you see it in the way Bergevin talks about him. He knows that without Price the team looks much much worst, he's had a glimpse of it. Without price he knows his days are numbered, I mean days. He will do everything in his power to sign him, and I hope he does. But I also hope Price doesn't cripple the team for years to come, this is entirely in his hands.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

If Radulov walks then I don't know if Price will be a hab after his contract.

Clearly MB has a line in the sand he isn't going to cross. He isn't crossing it for Radu, he isn't crossing it for Markov and I think he will do the same with Price.

Where is that line for MB? Can't say I know. I agree with those saying MB and Molson know that Price = playoffs so they want to keep him here. But there is a threshold and so far it seems to me MB won't go past it.

Now if he signs Radu and Markov my opinion changes because it shows MB is willing to throw caution to the wind.

MB has given out several long term deals in the past, just because he won't give a 50 point 31 year old $42 million or a soon to be 39 year old a 2 year contract doesn't mean he won't give in to Price's demands.

 

[S Bah]

Clearly the driving force for the Core Group of our Habs, is in Winning the Stanley Cup. Therefore the salary demands will also be dictated with regards to, Icing the team with the best Core Group whose intent is the SC Championship. As Detroit was able to do with Datsyuk, Lindstrom, Zetterberg et al., becoming a hockey dynasty due to their passions to be World Champions(Stanley Cup Champions), the real deal!!!...

 

[Tyson]

Signing Price is priority because it covers up Bergevin's total ineptitude

 

[Frankenheimer]

I've come to accept that building great NHL teams is mostly luck. No league in the world rewards terrible decision-making more than the NHL. No league rewards great-decision making less.

 

[Habaneros]

Chris Nichols†@NicholsOnHockey 4h4 hours ago
Replying to @NicholsOnHockey

McKenzie: Just a guess, but "I won't be surprised if Price's number on an extension comes in at between $10-11 million." #Habs

......

Chris Nichols†@NicholsOnHockey 4h4 hours ago

McKenzie: Lundqvist at $8.5 million. "I'm going to bet that Carey Price's (cap hit) is north of $10 million." #Habs 1050

 

[SnapVirus]

If Price wants more than 9M$. I'd refuse.

There wont be a lot of teams ready to give him more than that on the ufas market next season. And teams who could offer him that much arer ****ed up teams who wont win ****.

I'd much rather spend 5.5M$ 9' an average goalie and have a superstar forward. Then 11M$ on a goalie and a ****** line up.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Signing Price is priority because it covers up Bergevin's total ineptitude

He really has all the cards here. We never should've made the playoffs in 2014 or 15. And we all saw what happened in 2016 when he went down... We've got Phillipe Dannault as our number one center right now. The guy doesn't have a choice but to pay whatever Price wants. MB has no leverage whatsoever. The only reason to trade Price would be to start a rebuild and if that happens we should get ourselves a new GM to begin with.

 

[Habaneros]

If Price wants more than 9M$. I'd refuse.

There wont be a lot of teams ready to give him more than that on the ufas market next season. And teams who could offer him that much arer ****ed up teams who wont win ****.

I'd much rather spend 5.5M$ 9' an average goalie and have a superstar forward. Then 11M$ on a goalie and a ****** line up.

11 Million CAP HIT......He could make 14 million a year

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

If Price wants more than 9M$. I'd refuse.

There wont be a lot of teams ready to give him more than that on the ufas market next season. And teams who could offer him that much arer ****ed up teams who wont win ****.

I'd much rather spend 5.5M$ 9' an average goalie and have a superstar forward. Then 11M$ on a goalie and a ****** line up.

9 mil is the least he'll make. He's a premiere talent in this league and yes tons of teams would pay him that. You think Toronto wouldn't rush to sign him? Of course they would.

I heard the same thing back when we gave him 6 mil... that turned out to be a bargain. 10 mil is expensive now but the cap will keep going up. You pay your top players regardless of position. Price has earned it.

 

[hockeyfan2k11]

Team is built to ride the goalie's coattails. Said goalie will ask for the moon deservedly so.

 

[SnapVirus]

9 mil is the least he'll make. He's a premiere talent in this league and yes tons of teams would pay him that. You think Toronto wouldn't rush to sign him? Of course they would.

I heard the same thing back when we gave him 6 mil... that turned out to be a bargain. 10 mil is expensive now but the cap will keep going up. You pay your top players regardless of position. Price has earned it.

Name me one cup winner in the last 40 years where the highest paid player on the team was the goalie?

Bad. Strategy.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Name me one cup winner in the last 40 years where the highest paid player on the team was the goalie?

Bad. Strategy.

You are missing the boat here....

You don't always get to pick and choose who your stars are. Would I rather have Crosby? Sure. But he's not ****ing available right now. Our star is Carey Price and you pay him the freaking cash.

If you want to argue that we've done a bad job building this team you'll get zero argument from me. But that doesn't mean that Price isn't worth a 10 million dollar contract because he is. And signing him to 10 mil doesn't prevent us from going out and building a good team. Our GM does that all on his own.

 

[Hackett]

Just based on lundqvist's contract, Price would earn 9.9 million per year when you prorate for % of salary cap consumed. Getting him for south of 9.9 is actually getting into bargain territory for Montreal..... Again, based off the lundqvist deal.

I'm not going to get into whether a goalie should take 13.2% of your cap. That's a whole other argument.

 

[Frank Drebin]

This next decade is really going to suck. A whole bunch of cap tied up into aging players who really aren't that good.

 

[the valiant effort]

Not that it has any bearing on the cap era, but Hasek (2002), Brodeur (2003) and Khabibulin (2004) were the highest paid players on their teams.

As I'm typing this Hasek actually only made $8 million to Lidstrom's $8.5 million. Still, it's pretty clear the 2005 lockout's purpose was to take goalies back down a peg. Lundqvist and Price coming back for the throne.

 

[NobleSix]

Damn, 11 million.

Hard pass, and I love Carey

 

[Teufelsdreck]

I fear that with Price's next contract, the Habs won't be able to afford more than 3 4th line grinders.

The cap will increase and the revenue at the Bell Centre will be sufficient to sign other star players.

 

[Natey]

If they sign Price anything close to $12M-$13M, it won't surprise me because we're a pretty dumb organization.

Even $9M is sketchy. I said this before - goaltending isn't as important as it used to be because the systems have got tighter. I'm not saying I wouldn't love a top tier goalie, but if you're paying you're goalie that much money he legit can't have an off night ever. The difference between a top tier goalie and a good goalie is not the same as a the difference between offensive talents.

 

[Habaneros]

If they sign Price anything close to $12M-$13M, it won't surprise me because we're a pretty dumb organization.

All i got to say,If you got a goalie with an 11 million cap hit TRADE AWAY EVERY GOALIE prospect you got...Because there is no way if for instance when McNevin or Lingdren commands a 2.5 -3 million contract in the next 3-4 years will it make sense to keep them around ...You still got Price for another 4-5 years at 11 million cap hit....Which will be untradable for any type of value...could end up in a buyout or eating cash etc...



So trade away the goalie prospects asap ....there is no room for them here whatsoever in the next 8 years...

 

[BubbleGumPlant]

If they sign Price anything close to $12M-$13M, it won't surprise me because we're a pretty dumb organization.

Even $9M is sketchy. I said this before - goaltending isn't as important as it used to be because the systems have got tighter. I'm not saying I wouldn't love a top tier goalie, but if you're paying you're goalie that much money he legit can't have an off night ever. The difference between a top tier goalie and a good goalie is not the same as a the difference between offensive talents.

I disagree that the "correct" model is to not spend too much on a goalie. I think teams need a good goalie at the very least, and a great goalie at a higher cap hit wouldn't hurt that much more. We're talking about an extra $3-4M which is the equivalent to the difference between Emelin and Jordie Benn or a Desharnais vs no Desharnais. The most important aspect is to ensure that your "good" goalie actually plays semi-elite in the POs. The problem is that Price has NEVER been good in the playoffs. It doesn't mean that he can't be, he certainly has the potential, but he hadn't which is why the Habs never made it to the cup finals. Other than perhaps John Tavares, there is no other team that would be willing to trade their #1C for Price at $10M. And you can't let Price walk as a UFA so really there is no other thee option than to pay he man his money!

 

[didimentionlarseller]

11 Million

welp been nice Price ill go to some extra games this season coming up will miss you bud

offersheet Draisaitl for that amount

 

[Runner77]

Damn, 11 million.

Hard pass, and I love Carey

Seriously, where is this team going? Time to blow this thing up and start the Lindgren era.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

I disagree that the "correct" model is to not spend too much on a goalie. I think teams need a good goalie at the very least, and a great goalie at a higher cap hit wouldn't hurt that much more. We're talking about an extra $3-4M which is the equivalent to the difference between Emelin and Jordie Benn or a Desharnais vs no Desharnais. The most important aspect is to ensure that your "good" goalie actually plays semi-elite in the POs. The problem is that Price has NEVER been good in the playoffs. It doesn't mean that he can't be, he certainly has the potential, but he hadn't which is why the Habs never made it to the cup finals. Other than perhaps John Tavares, there is no other team that would be willing to trade their #1C for Price at $10M. And you can't let Price walk as a UFA so really there is no other thee option than to pay he man his money!

I agree with everything you said there except your conclusion that we have no choice but to pay him. We can trade him and it doesn't have to be for an elite established #1 center. It could also be for a young upcoming player or a bunch of high picks. If we think that signing a 31 year old goalie to an 8 year deal 10M+ would be detrimental to the team, then we don't have to do it. It takes huge balls to do something like this however, and MB used up the remaining goodwill chips he had on doing the Subban-Weber swap. I don't think he could survive the PR nightmare of trading Price for a non huge return with a delayed impact.

Regardless my biggest worry about Price is that he doesn't bring it in the playoffs. What's the point of paying a guy 10M who doesn't make the difference when it matters ? If I'm going to pay a guy that much, I want him to be dragging the team fighting and screaming far in the playoffs the way that players like Karlsson, Kane, Toews, Crosby, Malkin, Kopitar, Keith, Getzlaf can do. Price ? Ain't never seen none of that with Price. At this point in his career, I don't think you will either. I don't have a problem with guys like that making absurd salaries. They have proven they are worth it when it matters.

The only one set to make even more who hasn't really proven himself in the playoffs is McDavid but he is a special case. He's a generational player in becoming whereas Price was 3rd on Vezina votes on reputation this year. We're just not talking about the same thing at all here. And still I think the whole 13M talks is really stupid from Chiarelli if he gives it to McDavid. I mean.. the whole point of signing your RFA to long term deals is to try and get a discount. Where is the discount in that deal ?

 

[G0bias]

Carey is THE reason Bargainbin still has this job.

That said, its just not something we should handcuff ourselves with, unfortunately. Not with this GM or with our history of never getting a top C in decades.

It's sad really. I didn't really experience 93 or remember it.
And in my mind, about 5 or 6 years ago, it just felt like if we were to win it sometime it'd be with Carey, the best goalie in the world our modern-age Ken Dryden, and PK leading the way.

Its sickening that we watched two neanderthals who came in and wasted 5+ years of one's prime and got rid of the other. And we'll be left with nothing.