On July 30, 2005, in a conference room of the Westin Hotel in downtown Ottawa, Montreal Canadiens’ general manager at the time, Bob Gainey stepped up to the podium with the director of amateur scouting, Trevor Timmins. After Gainey’s thanks to the league and the city of Ottawa for their hospitality under a short-notice to host the draft, Timmins, in just his third draft, had his turn at the microphone to announce the team’s pick at fifth overall.
“The Montreal Canadiens are proud to select, from the WHL, Tri-City Americans, goaltender Carey Price“.
Pierre McGuire wasn’t too happy with the pick, as he went on a furious rant.
“But you think about it now, Jose Theodore, Cristobal Huet… Yann Danis… This is not a fit for Montreal”. After some discussion between the analysts at TSN, Bob McKenzie and Gord Miller were also lightly disagreeing with the selection, Miller questioned Price’s attitude when he said that he was pulled out of goal at that year’s Ivan Hlinka tournament.
That moment, the historic Canadiens organization turned a page and wrote a new chapter in their history book. Carey Price was now part of their organization.
Nearly ten years later, those three from TSN might look back at their comments and just laugh, seeing what Price has done and what he means to the Montreal Canadiens now.
402 games and 201 wins later, Price has put himself into the upper echelon in a few Canadiens’ goaltender statistics with legends like Jacques Plantes, Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy. But he didn’t get there so easily, there were many bumps along the road.
Many Canadiens fans will remember Price’s early days, when he struggled to find his true playing style, couldn’t keep his head in the right place and was so up-and-down that it’s a surprise the Montreal amusement park, LaRonde, didn’t name a roller coaster after him.
His rookie season was all sunshine and rainbows, as he busted in the league in 2007-2008, just two years after he was drafted and when he was just 20-years-old. It was no question that the Canadiens rushed Price into his NHL career as it started just nine months after he led the Canadian World Junior team to a gold medal. Later that spring, after just two pro regular season games, Price surprisingly led the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs to the Calder Cup, winning playoff MVP in the process.
That sounded like enough pro experience for Gainey and coach Guy Carbonneau, as he started the following campaign in the big leagues behind the three-year “veteran” in Cristobal Huet. They split the crease that season, leading the Habs to first place in the Eastern Conference after the club failed to make the playoffs in 2007.
At the trade deadline, Gainey traded Huet, meaning the weight of being the starting goaltender in Montreal was all on Price’s shoulders as Jaroslav Halak only played a small handful of games.
Many would say that this was one of the biggest mistakes Gainey made at the helm of the Canadiens’ front office as the Habs needed seven games to defeat the number eight seed Bruins that post-season and were eliminated in five to the Flyers the next round. That’s what happens when your starting goalie is twenty.
Then, for the next two seasons, Price’s career seemed to go downhill. He succumbed to the pressure of playing in hockey’s capital. 2008-2009 saw him pull a Roy and infamously wave his arms at the fans at the Bell Center moments prior to the team’s elimination to the Bruins.
In 2009-2010, Price became Halak’s back-up as the Slovak carried the Canadiens to their first Conference Final since 1993. Halak stood on his head against top seeds Washington and Pittsburgh, to the praise of many Canadiens fans.
At this time, there was a major split between the fans as Price vs Halak debates raged around water coolers and throughout social media. Salary cap concerns meant that one of the goalies had to be traded. Then-GM Pierre Gauthier had to make a decision; Price or Halak? On June 17, 2010, Gauthier’s hammer came down when he dealt Halak to the St. Louis Blues for a pair of prospects, Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.
Still, some fans in Montreal didn’t accept that deal, when they booed Price in the first pre-season game against the Bruins after he quickly let in three goals.
“Just relax, just chill out. I mean, there’s lots of time” Price said post-game.
As one of the most scrutinized players in the league, Price calmly played 72 games that season and took the eventual Cup champion Bruins to a seventh-game overtime in April. Just like that, Price had won over many of his critics.
Flash forward nearly five years since Price solidified his spot as the number one goaltender, Price has become “the Sidney Crosby in Montreal” as the controversial Tony Marinaro of TSN Radio puts it. After a shaky 2013 playoff series when the Canadiens lost to the Senators, he finally silenced the rest of his critics last season when he led Canada to gold at the Olympics with back-to-back shutouts against the USA and Sweden in the semi-final and finals, then brought his team to the Conference Finals with a sweep over Tampa and a massive upset over Boston.
Unfortunately for the team and Price, he was injured in the first game of the Confernce finals in a collision with Chris Kreider, and the Habs fell in six with Dustin Tokarski in nets.
Sitting fifth in Franchise History in wins (201) and third in games played (401) behind Plante and Roy, Price is just missing one thing; a Stanley Cup ring. Ken Dryden has six of those, in just eight seasons. But of course, that was a different era, and Dryden had the most dominant team in NHL history playing in front of him, so one can not frown upon that too much.
Timmins, who would go on to select Ryan McDonaugh, Max Pacioretty and P.K. Subban in one draft (2007), made the perfect selection with Price in 2005 (sorry McGuire). He’s on a path to being on top of the Canadiens’ record books, and with the best Canadiens team in a long, long time, a finger of Price’s hand might be surrounded by a gold ring very soon.
The youngster has come a long way from his early days. Congratulations to him for his 200th win in his 400th game last Friday.
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