NHL Rumors: Carey Price's Future in Montreal in Doubt

What is going on with Carey Price? At this point, your guess is as good as any. The Montreal Canadiens netminder has yet to appear in a game this season and some are starting to speculate about his future being in doubt with the franchise.

Price is now 34 and still has four more seasons left on his contract, paying him a whopping $10.5 million per season. While he's recently skated in player equipment, we've been hard pressed to find any content of the Canadiens goalie taking shots or practicing in full with his teammates.

With the new management regime being assembled in Montreal, the future of their crease is going to be a hot topic of conversation in 2022. Recently Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet mentioned on 32 Thoughts the podcast that he feels the team and the veteran goalie are going to have to have a crucial conversation soon to determine what will be the best option for he and the team moving forward.

Friedman went on to mention with the Olympics completely out of the picture now, the focus should be shifted to next season:

Would the Canadiens and Price say well maybe another team might want you, but the only way that could work is if you get healthy and play some games this year so other teams can see that you’re alright. I think at some point that conversation is going to have to happen.

So it seems like this is going to go one of two ways. Price gets into some games before the end of this season and is traded in the offseason or he sticks it out in Montreal and ends his career with the Canadiens.

Moving him and his $10.5 million annual contract is near impossible for teams to take on mid-season. Teams don't have to be cap compliant in the offseason so expect to see a move, if any, made sometime this summer. Teams to keep an eye on as the Price trade chatter picks up these next couple of months include the Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks, and Edmonton Oilers. Either way the NHL is a better place when Carey Price is playing hockey and let's hope we all get to see that sometime this season.