Last week, my column was entitled Price reassuring. He had only played one game and he had looked good. Today it is the opposite. I’m worried and I see red flags everywhere. In fact, it’s the worst scenario, apart from the announcement of a permanent retirement.
It’s become apparent in recent games that Price isn’t comfortable. He’s back in the infirmary and he won’t be traveling to New York. In the last two games, once morest the Flyers and the Senators, he didn’t move like the goaltender we know.
Was he protecting his knee? Maybe, but I think it’s worse than that and I can’t help but go back to his January 30 press conference.
Moreover, two days later, the title of my chronicle was Is this the end for Price? I had written that he looked like a resigned man and that nothing was known regarding the condition of his knee. However, his surgery foreshadowed a return to play following eight weeks.
Since then, it has been setback following setback. He did not resume his post until April 15. He had plenty of time to recover, and it was said that he would only play if he was 100%. We did not force him to return to the game.
I was the first to say that Price absolutely had to play a few games despite the Canadian’s position. Regardless of the results, knowing that his knee would hold up would help him have a great summer and come back strong in September.
something is wrong
But there, it is obvious that something is wrong physically and it is the worst scenario. Price took his time to recover; following only four games, he is on the sidelines…
It’s alarming and, honestly, I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Will more time help him heal? I doubt it, but we don’t know anything regarding the condition of his knee. Its managing director, Kent Hughes, will have to have precise answers. Did the doctors make a wrong diagnosis?
Price will be 35 next summer. At this age, wounds take a long time to heal. I know something regarding it, but the difference with me is that at the end of my career, I earned $1.5 million. Price wins more than 10 and that’s a serious problem for Hughes.
Trading Price seems very difficult to me in this context. Will we see him once more with the Canadiens? Is it time to buy out his contract like Steve Yzerman did in the case of Vincent Lecavalier, even if he was healthy, in 2013?
And I see other red flags. Where is he mentally? Is he really hungry? According to Martin St-Louis, Price decides when he plays. But why did he choose to play Saturday in Ottawa, when the next day at the Bell Center was Guy Lafleur night once morest the Bruins?
I don’t know a number one goaltender who would have wanted to miss such an opportunity to play in front of his supporters at the Bell Centre. There haven’t been many special games this season and this was one of them. But the club leader wasn’t even on the bench.
Maybe Price was not able to play this game, but we should have played Samuel Montembeault on Saturday in Ottawa and Price on Sunday in Montreal, for the honor of Guy Lafleur.
Trust
The only other reason for having played Price on Saturday is that he was not confident in his means and preferred to risk having a bad night in Ottawa rather than in Montreal, in front of his fans.
One thing is certain, Price’s situation is increasingly worrying. I think it’s time to dial 911. I think the whole organization is on high alert on this file.
-Comments collected by Gilles Moffet
Entrefilets
Memories of Guy Lafleur
What an immense loss that of Guy Lafleur and what memories! At the age of 4, I appeared in a photo from the newspaper The Gazette back, with my brother Roch. I wore Wayne Gretzky and Roch’s number 99, Lafleur’s 10. They were the two big stars of the time. I still have the article and the photo in a frame.
I met Guy during the Canadiens’ softball tours. He always spoke to me as if I were one of his great friends, and I mightn’t believe that Guy Lafleur was speaking to me. We both shared the passion of being helicopter pilots and we even went on a trip together, during which Guy was the pilot.
He was a legend, but he impressed me with his athletic stature, his build and his huge hands. A true thoroughbred. I will never forget that photo shoot at the Bell Centre. I must have been 24 years old and I was in my civilian clothes. It was the first time that I saw Guy in the red uniform of the CH, with his skates and his wooden Sherwood stick. The Bell Center lights were on full blast. He was magnificent. With his blond hair, he looked like a superhero.
He must have been 50 years old and he started throwing pucks. It was amazing to see his cannonballs in the top of the net. He might have still played in the NHL. Then he came up to me and said, “Hey kid, do you think you would have stopped that? »
I offer my condolences to the family. It is not only all of Quebec that is in mourning, but also the entire hockey world. Thanks, Guy!
Masterton Candidate
I want to see Carey Price end his career in Montreal and I add that his sweater will have to be hoisted to the heights of the Bell Center, but I don’t understand why he is the Canadian’s candidate for the Bill-Masterton trophy this year. He only played four games: it’s too little for a trophy synonymous with perseverance. If he plays regularly and efficiently next season, however, he will be an excellent candidate. Jonathan Drouin would have been a better choice, in my opinion.
