Carey Price is the odds-on favorite to win this year’s Vezina, Hart and Lindsay trophies as the NHL’s best goalie and most valuable player, as voted by the press and his peers on June 24th at the annual NHL Awards in Las Vegas. There is little doubt that Price is deserving of all three awards as he won a league best 44 games and posted the best save percentage .933 and goals against average of 1.96. Price also beat the Montreal Canadiens record of wins by a goalie in a single-season, previously held by legends Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden.
At 27 years old, Price is about to enter what many consider to be the prime age of goaltenders. Like a fine wine, it can take years for goalies to mature as they get better with age and experience. While Price’s rise to NHL stardom has been somewhat tumultuous, today it is obvious that the real Carey Price has truly arrived. The Canadiens ability to win a 25th Stanley Cup will almost entirely rest on Price's shoulders.
The pressure on Price to succeed early in Montreal was directly linked to the previous accomplishments of past Habs greats like Dryden and Patrick Roy, both of whom won the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe trophies in their rookie year. Price was coming into his rookie NHL season in 2007-2008 on an incredible high, having previously backstopped the Canadian World Junior Hockey team to gold and the Canadiens minor league affiliate Hamilton Bulldogs to the Calder Cup championship in 2007. At the trade deadline, Price would be officially anointed the Canadiens starting goalie as Cristobal Huet was traded away. In his first playoff experience, Price helped the Canadiens beat Boston in 7 games, highlighted by a shutout in the series clincher. Unfortunately the dream of another rookie goalie leading the Habs to their next cup would be crushed as the Philadelphia Flyers would demolish the Canadiens in 5 games.
The next few years would be a struggle for Price in Montreal with his dedication and maturity often being questioned. Eventually, Price would lose the starting job to Jaroslav Halak who would go on to lead the Canadiens to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1993. Even with Halak’s play, the Canadiens general manager at the time Pierre Gauthier would ultimately choose to keep Price and trade Halak. Price’s potential was still obvious and untapped. The 2009-2010 season was his wake-up call and it was time to bear down and get serious at improving his craft. Until then, Price had mostly relied on his athleticism and talent to stop the puck. With a renewed commitment to practice and improving himself, Price’s numbers greatly improved in the 2010-2011 season playing in a career high 72 games, raising his SV% from .912 to .923 and lowering his GAA from 2.77 to 2.35. In the playoffs of that year Price was even better, losing game 7 in overtime against the eventual Stanley Cup Champion and heated rival Boston Bruins. In that series Price had a SV% of .934 and GAA of 2.11, it had seemed like Price had finally arrived. Unfortunately the 2011-2012 season would be a mess for the entire Montreal Canadiens organization and Price saw his numbers deteriorate. In the off-season new Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin would bring with him goalie coach Stephane Waite from the Chicago Blackhawks. Under Waite’s guidance and tutelage, Price would become the goalie that he is today.
Waite’s greatest contribution to improving Price’s technique was that he didn’t want to change Carey Price, he simply wanted to tinker with the skills that were already there to make Price a more efficient and thus a better goalie. Price’s size and athleticism have often been among his greatest strengths. The problem was that over the course of Price’s early career, he would generally over commit and find himself out of position, unable to recover with ease. With Waite, Price would learn to exercise control over his movements. These past couple of seasons we have witnessed Price make incredible save after save, often because he is in the right position to do so. The other noticeable improvement with Price is the way that he confidently comes out to challenge the shooter. This is even more obvious in shootouts which are no longer considered a weakness of Price’s.
With Price’s maturity, has come his ability to lead the Canadiens. He has come to accept his role and embrace it. At 27 years young, Price is a seasoned veteran who has already learned the hard truths of what it takes to be an NHL player. Many feel that Price was the unofficial captain of the Montreal Canadiens this past season and in many ways that was probably true. He is without a doubt the most respected player on the team. While he may not speak often, when he does everyone listens. His ability to be zen and block out distractions is to be admired. Sometimes fans wish that Price would show more emotion and the ability to get angry. That is simply not the person that Price is. When Price was younger you could see him visibly upset with a teammate when someone missed their assignment which would lead to a goal against. Today Price is the ultimate teammate, there for them through thick and thin regardless of blunders (ie: Markov in playoffs, Pacioretty’s giveaway to Stamkos in the regular season). Price is also effusive with his praise for his teammates, always making sure to give them credit for clearing lanes and blocking shots. Modest and Mature, certainly the markings of a de-facto captain.
In the past two seasons, Price has led Team Canada to gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the Canadiens to their best consecutive playoff performances in over 20 years. As Price enters his prime, the Canadiens have him signed through the next three seasons. With each passing season the pressure to win increases. While some may assume Price will re-sign in 3 years time, it is impossible to predict the future. The focus has to be on the next three seasons. We have seen teams ride goalies to the Stanley Cup before, however the Canadiens owe it to Price to be better offensively. They owe it to Price to improve their powerplay. They owe it to Price to improve their penalty kill. Over the past couple of seasons the Canadiens have proven that they are consistently one of the NHL’s better teams. The pieces to take the next step are still missing though, be it a true # 1 centerman or top 6 winger. When the Canadiens chose to stay with Price he rewarded the organization with his dedication to become a better person on and off the ice. Now it is time for the Canadiens to payback Carey Price...
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