The Montreal Canadiens don’t have to trade Carey Price’s contract, but it would severely handcuff them if they didn’t
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period: The Montreal Canadiens are about $5 million over the salary cap, and moving Carey Price’s $10.5 million cap hit would allow them to accrue cap space throughout the season. It would give them more flexibility now and at the trade deadline. If the Canadiens don’t find a deal they like before the start of the season, they’ll Price on the LTIR.
Marco D’Amico: (From an ‘X’ thread) The Canadiens don’t have to trade Carey Price’s contract, but putting him on offseason LTIR would severely limit their future moves if other injuries arose. They would have $0 cap space.
If potential callups had performance bonuses, their new cap hit would be even higher, causing more problems. Also, if they were looking to improve their roster, they’d be forced to do money-in, money-out. Would be okay if selling but not buying. The following season, they would have more bonuses overages as Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson will hit several marks.
Teams have been asking the Canadiens for a second-round pick to take on Price’s cap hit. Not sure if the Canadiens will give up that much, but they’re going to have to give up something.
Renaud Lavoie also reported that “he won’t be surprised if some GMs asked for a 2nd to take on Price’s contract.” Teams asking price may be there, but Lavoie said that Canadiens wouldn’t do that and would negotiate a lesser draft pick.
Eric Macramalla: “Why is it a certainty Carey Price will be traded?
AAV: $10.5M AAV
Owed: $800K (after bonus paid and insurance)
That is most definitely something a few teams would be interested in like the Sharks, Hawks, Pens and Ducks.”
Eric Engels of Sportsnet: Montreal Canadiens GM Ken Hughes said they don’t have to trade Price.
“I wouldn’t ever just expect anything to happen, because things don’t always happen when you want them to. But we’ll continue to explore ways to create cap flexibility.”
Hughes adds:
“We’re fine, we don’t have to trade Carey Price. If we can find a trade to move his contract that makes sense for us and makes sense for another team, we’ll pursue it. But we don’t have to.”
It’s more likely than not that the Canadiens do trade Price’s contract.
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