The Canadiens waste 84M on him, 7M for the 2nd year of Thornton’s contract, and 6M on Perron. Seems like a MB thing to do

You know, when life hands you lemons.... This team wouldn't be so bad, especially if there's a top-5 pick coming in too. Haven't seen enough of the goalies, but as we've seen with Niemi, you just need to be solid to give the team a chance to win.

I'm sensing I'm with you on Price. I think he might just be too damaged to play the game anymore. Something is clearly very wrong. It was a surprise to everyone how badly he played at the start of the season -- supposedly chronic fatigue. I suspect if he starts next year as badly, he might have to face the music.

Not sure Habs would have to pay anything if he's injured.

That’d b really annoying, though, having Price on LTIR for 8 years.

The point was less about WHICH players as the fact that the Habs could rebuild their top lines and probably not suffer too much.

What I love is hearing the fans on this board suck and blow. On the one hand, Price is horrible, terrible, washed up, ..... On the other, those same people say the Habs would be lost without him. I suspect the truth is nowhere near either of those.

Annoying for the insurance company anyway. Wouldn't have a bearing on the team's cap, as long as it was near the top. And if it's not near the max cap, who cares? Wouldn't affect the Habs flexibility.

Like all good GMs, take that new found money of 10.5m, and not waste it. Don't think your free agents signings showed prudence .
Carey would be very disappointed that he would no longer be playing in the NHL, Carey would be very happy that he didn't have play for the Canadians anymore.

Carey Price is finished? Wow. That's a bit of an overreaction LOL

Not sure you're right. Price might just be done with the game. Eventually, when you have enough money, you start to wonder why you bother. Concussions are scary things.

Just musing aloud. Lots of people are thinking it and plenty on these boards are happy to tell you how badly he sucks. Maybe he feels that too. He sure doesn't seem interested in the game anymore.

Not sure it's an overreaction to anything. Just an acknowledgement that some people don't come back from concussions, especially if it affects their vision. Not sure any goalie wants to stand in front of an Ovechkin shot while seeing double. And everyone has pride.

Oh, I don't deny that when players are injured....it's time to retire. But NHLers still want to compete, they don't want their careers to end, they still want to be NHLers, cause they know it's all going to end before they are 40 years of age even if healthy. Price/Habs will just have to see how this this all plays out over the summer. From the hockey club point of view if Price is forced to retire, it's not the worse thing. Time to reset with 10.5m to spend, (maybe not all in 2018/19).

"Free to good homes" = terrible asset management. There were teams calling for A. Shaw at the deadline, he has value. Benn is a good 3rd pairing defenseman, he has value. Lernout is still young, why move him? Byron is good for 15-20 goals and can play up and down the line-up, all for 1.166M per year, he has value.

I get the Price issue is what you are getting at, but "free to a good home" should be changed to "I don't want to figure out decent deals for these players".

Also, IF Price retires, this team goes full rebuild. Anything less is a fineable offence.

As a goalie, when you come to the rink every day, or even for men's league, and your team is an absolute gong show, it gets harder and harder to play properly. Your confidence gets shaken and you begin to doubt yourself on every goal.

He knows the team is the worst he's ever played on and he sees the complete lack of direction and has to feel it's hopeless. Add in a little injury and he may need a year or two away.

Exactly. By "free to a good home" I just mean i don't want to get into a stupid debate with a bunch of haters as to whether Florida wants Daniel Carr.... WTF cares?

Sure.... or maybe he's done and wants to move home to rural BC. If he's not washed up, the Habs will be able to move him. This just assumes they get zero in return. They'd still be fine. That's the whole point of this exercise.

Why? Spend the $26M in cap space they have on 4-5 really good players and a couple of perfectly decent goalies. They've already had their tank year, getting a top 18-year-old and hopefully 1-2 others out of that batch of second-rounders this year. Poehling, Brook and Fleury look promising. Lehkonen, Chucky, Drouin, Juulsen, Mete, Danault and Gallagher are all good "kids" under 25. Team has a few pieces of aging deadwood, but nothing that $26M won't fix.

Addendum: I don't think Lindgren is all that special, but Primeau's numbers as a freshman might signal that he was a big catch.

A year or two away is terminal, especially for a goalie. I think if he doesn't answer the bell with a good training camp, he could just declare himself too damaged to continue and collect his fat insurance cheque. (That will be a fun court case).

The problem with "Spend the $26M in cap space they have on 4-5 really good players" is that those 4-5 players have to agree to come to Montreal. Given the media/fan base, not every player is a fit. Given the taxes, they can make more money elsewhere. If Montreal overpays to have the player ignore all that, 4-5 turns into 2-3 pretty fast.

We have nice young pieces, but nothing to build around. We have complementing parts. None of those prospects are a #1 center, Poehling is more likely a great #3 center. Mete, Juulsen, Brook, Fleury aren't replacing Weber/Subban. Perhaps you get Boqvist or Hughes that can fill that, whats a big MAYBE. A #1 center doesn't look to be in the cards this draft.

So overpay for a #1 center and go into another season full of holes...

Subban and Weber were both second-round picks for very different reasons. Juulsen is still just a boy in terms of strength. When he fills out, he could grow to be an all-star. Brook and Fleury are too young to project, but are tracking very well, especially given that Brook missed half a year. The Montreal tax thing is way overstated. Highest taxes by far is on Toronto (adding municipal, provincial and federal). Quebec is actually one of Canada's lowest-tax districts and most of the players live in Brossard, which does not pay Montreal taxes.

Those holes are mainly a #1 and a #2 Centre. $26M -- $15 for Tavares and $8 for Stastny still leaves you $3M to fiddle with -- perhaps add someone like John Moore on D.

Question on something I know very little about contract wise, so somebody else may be able to answer this but would there be a recapture penalty on Price? Just musing on it as I'm not altogether clear on how that side of contracts works.

Thornton & Stastny would certainly help improve your puck possession and set up but you're going to need some finishers/snipers (maybe the time to get Yakupov's rights and see how he does back with Galchenyuk and someone like Stastny, cheap gamble), and with Drouin and Perron both being more set up men as well, you might see a lot of pretty passing and not a lot of scoring. The power play might never lose possession of a puck though lol. All very interesting though.

I'm not in his head. You're not in his head. My point being that it's difficult to know how/what Price thinks. We don't even know the extent of his injury, so I think this is a little over the top, especially to say he doesn't seem interested. He chill AF, the only thing he's not interested in is the MTL media and their rumours, which fans rely a little too heavy on these days. And TBH, I highly doubt he reads these or any other hockey boards lol.

Anyway, there's not really an argument to be made either way here. It's all speculative, but we'll have the answer next season.

It's true, but if he's not badly hurt or genuinely sick, Price owes Habs fans an apology. No one should expect to make $6.5M and not even seem to give a rat's rear that their performance was not just below par, it was bottom of the league stuff -- .750 save percentages. That's not his D. That's him!!!!