Rumor: Carey Price Named In Blockbuster Trade

Carey Price made it known that he would like to be traded at the end of this season if the Montreal Canadiens do not make the playoffs for the 3rd consecutive year. The Habs have fallen to 25th place in the standings after last night's 4-3 loss to the last place Detroit Red Wings. GM Marc Bergevin is likely to make this happen much earlier than anyone expected. In fact, even Quebec Premier, Francois Legault, tweeted that perhaps it was time to trade Price or Weber.

Price is in his 2nd year of an 8 year contract with an annual cap hit of $10.5 million. He also carries a no movement clause, which prevents him from being traded or sent to the minors, and demands that he be protected in the event of an expansion draft. He is reportedly willing to waive the no trade portion of this clause to play for a different team for the first time in his career. It will take a trade partner with a specific need to be willing to take on this salary and term.

The Colorado Avalanche are reported to be the frontrunners to land Carey Price. The Avalanche are 7th in the league standings with 54 points, which makes them a legitimate cup contender. They have a strong back-up goaltender with Pavel Francouz, but Philipp Grubauer's 9.11 SV% is simply not good enough to take the team to the next level.

The Avalanche may only have $6.789 million in available cap space, but their deadline cap space is $31.5 million. This leaves plenty of room to trade for the highly coveted goaltender and make a deep run to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2001. Anybody remember what happened the last time a goaltender was traded from the Canadiens to the Avalanche?

Suspected Return? 
Philipp Grubauer, Bowen Byram & a 3rd round draft pick. The Habs are also reportedly interested in Erik Johnson.

Gros défi en 2020: Doit-on échanger Price et Weber? 😉

— François Legault (@francoislegault) January 3, 2020