Trade talk around Carey Price after Habs front office shakeup.

There is no longer any doubt about the fact that there are major changes on the horizon for the Montreal Canadiens, the only questions that now remain are about what those changes will look like.

This week the Montreal Canadiens announced a major shakeup when they fired former general manager Marc Bergevin and several key figures in his front office staff, and announced that former New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton would be taking over the team as executive vice president of hockey operations. What that will mean for the players on the ice however remains to be seen.

One of the biggest rumors to emerge from this major shakeup in the organization has been regarding the future of star goaltender Carey Price. Price is currently one of the highest earning goaltenders in the league and has 4 years remaining on his contract beyond this season, not the kind of asset a team heading towards a rebuild would want to keep on the roster. Now the Habs have not officially announced that they are moving to a rebuild, but in spite of that National Hockey League insider Pierre LeBrun has indicated that trade talk around Carey Price has picked up already.

"Well if you're gonna talk about Shea Weber then let's talk about Carey Price," said Lebrun this week on Insider Trading. "Bigger picture, longer term, what about his future with the Montreal Canadiens? There's a new person running the Montreal Canadiens in Jeff Gorton. Carey Price was very tight with Marc Bergevin everyone knows that. He's 34 years old, where does a 34 year old future Hall of Famer fit in the plan of a rebuild if that is what Jeff Gorton plans to do?"

While the thought of trading Carey Price may come off as blasphemy to some in Montreal, there is reason to believe that the man himself would welcome the change. Price waived his trade protection last offseason to expose himself in the NHL expansion draft, and although that story was spun as an attempt to protect Jake Allen, there was always the possibility that Price could have been selected. If Price was willing to waive his trade protection for that move he may be willing to do so again, and it sounds like there may already be some interest out there.

"There are teams around the league, some contenders, I can tell you already that are intrigued to find out where that all goes," said LeBrun.

I'll be honest here, I think any team willing on to take Price's contract at this stage of his career could end up doing the Canadiens a big favor. Over the last two seasons Price has simply not looked like a goaltender worth $10.5 million against the salary cap. In the 2019-2020 season he recorded a 2.79 goals against average and a .909 save percentage over 58 games and those numbers dipped during the 2020-2021 season with a 2.64 goals against average and a .901 save percentage over 25 games.

Add to that there are legitimate questions about how Price will bounce back after voluntarily entering the National Hockey League's Player Assistance Program on October 7th. At 34 years old there's no guarantee that he will regain the form that earned him the reputation as the best goaltender in the world, and even if he does it may not be in the best interests of a rebuilding franchise to have him doing so on their roster.