Équipe: 2021-22 Canadiens de Montréal

Date de création initiale: 1 janv. 2022

Publié: 1 janv. 2022

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

What would you be willing to trade for Carey Price at 50% retained? There was an Athletic article a while back which had feedback from pro scouts, this was there thoughts on Price:

“For sure there’s a market for him, but it would be quite the gamble,” said Scout No. 2. “But yes, there’s a market, that’s an automatic. There are teams who think they are a goalie away from being able to really do something … It might happen, but Price will need to come back and play like he did in the playoffs. That’s a big ‘if’ because if you look at his last three or four seasons, that hasn’t been the case.”

Carey Price is the single biggest reason why the Canadiens should hope the NHL goes to the Olympics. If Price is able to return in time, he could use Beijing to prove to the hockey world what he can offer another team. Because the interest in him is still there.

“When you look around the league, in terms of true No. 1 goalies, there are fewer than 15 of them,” said Scout No. 3. “Everyone uses a committee and hopes that one of them will have a great season … Bringing in a guy like that, with a reputation for never crumbling under the pressure, has a positive impact on a team. But again, it would have to work with the salary cap.”

The Canadiens need to find a team with Stanley Cup aspirations willing to make the investment and with the necessary salary-cap space required, which is a difficult combination to find among the top teams. That reality limits the market considerably.

“With what he’s shown in the playoffs, he should have two or three more years of solid hockey left in him, assuming he can recover from his injury and his off-ice issues are settled,” said Scout No. 3. “I think Colorado would be a good fit for him. Darcy Kuemper has the reputation who gets hurt a lot, and it’s the same thing this year.”

Scout No. 5 figures there might be two or three teams who could be interested.

“He has a lot of value for certain teams, but the problem is absorbing that contract under the cap for four years,” he said. “What is he worth? As far as I’m concerned, a first-round pick and a prospect, for sure. That’s a minimum.”

We believe the Canadiens would prefer to take back a bad contract or two as opposed to eating significant money for several years. The value of the draft picks coming back would depend on the bad contract or contracts that would come with those picks.

His full no-movement clause gives Price all the leverage, except for one thing: just because he accepts being moved, or even asks for it, doesn’t mean it will happen. There are so few teams who can afford to add Price that he needs to accept the possibility he will be stuck in Montreal for the duration of his deal.

Going off of the comments for the pro scouts, I've put together a trade - I think the main issue for debate is how much value does Kuemper still carry? Thoughts? Other offers / ideas?