Rumor: Carey Price to be traded before the summer?!

The Montreal Canadiens are off to an uncharacteristically bad start to the season and while the blame can be passed around throughout the lineup, a huge cause for concern is the play of Carey Price.

The perennial star goaltender has been barely a shadow of his former self, posting abysmal an abysmal 3.77 GAA and an .877 save percentage.

That save percentage is a far cry from his league best .928 over the last four seasons.

Elliotte Friedman and Nick Kypreos speculate on the Hockey Night in Canada panel on whether general manager Marc Bergevin may have to consider trading his prized player this season. With the team clearly missing the big pieces to be a real contender - and playing at a mediocre level this year, the team may have to make a hard decision with Price, who is on the last year of a deal that pays him $6.5 million.

Bergevin may have to consider something of a rebuild for this team, and Price may very well not want to stay around for that while he's still in his prime.

The contract includes a modified no-trade clause, which gives Price the right to submit a 15-team trade list. Next season, however, his newly-signed contract extension kicks in, paying him $10.5 million a year over 8 seasons. That's the richest AAV for a goalie ever.

It would be interesting to see which teams would be willing to bite the bullet on the contract to get one of the best goalies of this generation on their team. 

The slump he's in right now obviously doesn't bode well for a trade anytime in the near future, but it's very unlikely that it goes on for much longer. Price has the natural abilities to be the best goaltender in the league and everyone knows that.