This is a wild one and although it doesn't impact the Leafs directly, there are definitely Atlantic Division implications here. TSN's Chris Johnston is reporting that Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes has suggested that Carey Price will not play during the 2022-23 season.
After playing just 25 games in 2020-21, Price was limited to just 5 games in 2021-22 and posted a worst numbers of his career, sporting a 3.63 GAA and a .878 SV% across those games. Given the fact that he is not expected to play at all in 2022-23, it would be shocking to see him play another NHL game.
Price still has 4 years remaining on his current contract, which carries a cap hit of $10.5M per season. Price has an injury history a mile long from general wear and tear accumulating over the course of a 15-year NHL career. The B.C. native, who celebrated his 35th birthday just two days ago is a goaltender who saw 60 starts or more per season for a good chunk of his career, not including playoff starts.
His best season came in 2014-15, when he posted 44-16-6 record across 66 starts, boasting a .933 SV% and a 1.97 GAA. His performance that year earned him a Hart Trophy, Vezina Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award (then, the Lester B. Pearson Award) and William M. Jennings Trophy. The following season, he missed almost the entire year, suiting up in just 12 contests for the Habs, but still sporting very similar numbers to the year prior (.934 SV% and 2.06 GAA in 12 starts). He was right back to form the following year, starting 62 games and posting strong numbers across the board before things began to trend in the wrong direction, with the exception of a bounce-back 2018-19.
Obviously, everything culminated in a fairytale run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2020-21, where Price looked like his usual, incredible self. If this truly is the end of the Carey Price era, he had one hell of a career - certainly one you'd hate to see end like this.
If he can get the type of medical treatment, recovery and rehab needed to return to full health with a year off, perhaps we'll see him back somewhere down the line, but if he can't, and it's really beginning to feel that way, it's a really unfortunate way to go out.
