Report: Price will be Canada's starter at the Olympics despite not playing this season at all

Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues stunned Canadian hockey fans today by announcing that Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price will be Canada's starting goaltender at the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

Price, of course, has sat out the entirety of the 2021-22 NHL season to undergo treatment with the NHL's player assistance program for substance-abuse treatment. Price, of course, was between the pipes for Canada's dominant gold medal run at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Since then he's continued to establish himself as the NHL's top goaltender, even winning a Hart Trophy as the league's MVP in 2015. But flash forward to 2021 and Price isn't exactly the #1 with a bullet pick that some may think he still is. He's good, no doubt... but how does he stack up against perennial Vezina Trophy candidates like Andrei Vasilevsky and Connor Hellebuyck? Well... he doesn't, frankly and that's got to be a concern for Canada heading into the Games.

Still, Armstrong has faith in Price and, if Price wants Canada's top spot, he'll get the job.

"And now there's things that are so much more important than playing hockey and he's going through some of those things right now, and if he gets his game up and wants to come and he's playing to that level, he'll be the guy again," Armstrong said.

To me, I think reigning Vezina Trophy winner Marc Andre Fleury is the best choice. Sure, he's not having the best season with the Chicago Blackhawks but I think that says more about the Blackhawks than it does about Fleury. The fact of the matter is that Fleury is battle tested and has the kind of poise that only comes with veteran experience. A solid second option is Armstrong's very own Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues.

"The good thing is the guy who won before him is a Canadian and the really good thing was, for me, [that it was] Jordan Binnington. So [for] my day job it's good to have Binner with us, and he's played well this season too," Armstrong said.

How comfortable are Canadians with a trio of Price, Fleury and Binnington between the pipes?