Carey Price: Will The Canadiens Retire His #31?

The current list of numbers retired by the Montreal Canadiens includes the following:

1 Jacques Plante, 2 Doug Harvey, 3 Butch Bouchard, 4 Jean Beliveau, 5 Bernard Geoffrion and Guy Lapointe, 7 Howie Morenz, 9 Maurice Richard, 10 Guy Lafleur, 12 Yvan Cournoyer and Dickie Moore, 16 Henri Richard, 18 Serge Savard, 19 Larry Robinson, 23 Bob Gainey, 29 Ken Dryden, 33 Patrick Roy

The question I have for you today is this: will Carey Price’s #31 be retired some day after he hangs up the pads, glove, and blocker?

Obviously, this isn’t a straight forward question, which is what makes it fun to think about. Are his current accolades enough to get the job done? How great do his overall numbers stack up against others? Has he been the best long enough to warrant such an honour? And finally, can you retire a number for a player who has never won the Stanley Cup (if that were to happen in Price’s case)?

Before we dig into those questions and present some facts, via Hockey-Reference, here is a list of those who have worn #31 for the Habs:
Bob Perreault (1956), Claude Cyr (1959), Claude Provost (1962), Ernie Wakely (1963), Jean-Guy Morissette (1964), Michel Larocque (1974), Pat Hughes (1978), Mark Napier (1979-1984), Normand Baron (1984), John Newberry (1984-1985), John Kordic (1986-1989), Tom Chorske (1990-1991), Ed Ronan (1992-1995), Patrick Labrecque (1996), Jeff Hackett (1999-2003), Carey Price (2008-2015)

Let’s get to the meat of things now, beginning with Regular season statistics:

	Goalie Stats
Season	Age	GP	W	L	T/O	SV%	GAA	SO	QS%	GPS	Awards
2007-08	20	41	24	12	3	.920	2.56	3	.600	9.5	Calder-4,Vezina-9
2008-09	21	52	23	16	10	.905	2.83	1	.612	8.5
2009-10	22	41	13	20	5	.912	2.77	0	.538	7.6
2010-11	23	72	38	28	6	.923	2.35	8	.600	15.4	AS-4,Hart-7,Vezina-5
2011-12	24	65	26	28	11	.916	2.43	4	.538	12.3
2012-13	25	39	21	13	4	.905	2.59	3	.553	5.4	AS-11,Hart-17,Vezina-10
2013-14	26	59	34	20	5	.927	2.32	6	.644	13.9	AS-4,Hart-14,Vezina-4
2014-15	27	66	44	16	6	.933	1.96	9	.636	16.2	AS-1,Hart-1,Jennings-1,Vezina-1
Career		435	223	153	50	.919	2.44	34	.594	88.7

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/8/2015.

Here are the playoff stats for Carey Price:

	Goalie Stats
Season	Age	GP	W	L	T/O	SV%	GAA	SO	QS%
2007-08	20	11	5	6	0	.901	2.78	2	.455
2008-09	21	4	0	4	0	.878	4.11	0	.250
2009-10	22	4	0	1	0	.890	3.56	0	.000
2010-11	23	7	3	4		.934	2.11	1	.571
2012-13	25	4	1	2		.894	3.26	0	.500
2013-14	26	12	8	4	0	.919	2.35	1	.583
2014-15	27	12	6	6	0	.920	2.23	1	.667
Career		54	23	27	0	.912	2.62	5	.529

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/8/2015.

Now that we know what Carey Price has put up for statistics, the big question everyone wants answers to is this one: how they compare to other great Habs goaltenders?

There are three goaltenders who have had their jersey numbers retired by the Habs: Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden, and Patrick Roy. So, let’s compare all four, with the leader of each category in BOLD.

Jacques Plante: 556 | 314 | 133 | unk | 2.23 | 58 | 122.4 (high of 15.6 twice)
Ken Dryden: 397 | 258 | 57 | unk | 2.24 | 46 | 98.5 (high of 16.5)
Patrick Roy: 551 | 289 | 175 | .904% | 2.77 | 29 | 104.9 (high of 14.4)
Carey Price: 435 | 223 | 153 | .919% | 2.44 | 34 | 88.7 (high of 16.2)

*I placed the Save% in italic because Plante and Dryden did not have any listed. It’s noted as a comparison between Roy and Price.

Playoffs: Games Played | Wins | Losses | GAA | SO

Jacques Plante: 90 | 59 | 28 | 2.13 | 10
Ken Dryden: 112 | 80 | 32 | 2.40 | 10
Patrick Roy: 114 | 70 | 42 | 2.46 | 5
Carey Price: 54 | 23 | 27 | 2.62 | 5

Habs goaltending records held by Carey Price, so far:

Most Games Played in 1 season: 72 (2010-11)
Most Minutes Played in 1 season: 4,206 (2010-11)
Most Shootout Shots Faced, Saved: 40, 26 (2011-12)
Most Saves in 1 game: 53 (2009 2-0 loss to NSH, tied with Wayne Thomas)
Most Saves in 1 period: 23 (tied with 4 others)
Most Shots in 1 period: 24 (tied with 2 others)

Carey Price’s Ranking Overall with Habs – Regular Season:

Games: 3rd (435)
Wins: 4th (223, with 36 more wins will move into 3rd ahead of Dryden)
Shutouts: 4th – tied with Bill Durnan (34, with 13 more will move past Dryden)
Minutes Played: 3rd (25,647, another 2500 minutes or so gets him passed Roy for 2nd)
GAA: 7th (2.44, lowering it by 0.08 would tie him for 4th with Bill Durnan and Gerry McNeil)

Judging from the purely statistical impact and longevity of Carey Price thus far in his career, we can establish a few things.

He has been counted on as the Habs #1 net minder for a long time;
He has performed admirably throughout;
The totals he has put up stand up against the very best Habs net-minders of all-time;
The historic season he just experienced really shot him up the rankings in many areas and gave him that one stellar long-term performance to point to as a major achievement; and
Having just turned 28 a few weeks ago, his continued success as a Habs goaltender isn’t near done and can be projected to put him within the top 3 or 4 in all major goaltending categories.

Moving on, let’s grade his performances individually – Regular Season, Playoffs, and Lacking Items.

REGULAR SEASON

From 2010-11 onwards, Carey Price has been nothing but stellar for the Habs in the regular season. He has led the NHL in wins twice, in GAA, AGAA, and Save% once, and has enjoyed a LOW of 12.3 GPS. His GPS has been within the top 3 in the NHL 3 times in the last 5 years.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Carey Price will have done enough in the regular season to be considered one of the top 3-4 Habs goaltenders of all-time. This one’s pretty cut and clear. The GP, GAA, SO, and Wins will all be well within the top rankings, so there’s really no need to continue assessing this portion of his career. Aside from a debacle or injury plagued end to his career, there’s little chance that this changes at all going forward.

PLAYOFFS

Here’s where things get a little dicey. Unlike the other goaltenders I listed above, Carey Price has been unable to carry his team through the playoffs. That’s not to say that he has played horribly or is entirely at fault. But overall, the statistics are pretty telling. His GAA raises from 2.44 in regular season to 2.62 in playoffs, he’s under .500 overall with a 46% win percentage, and he has yet to take his team to the Stanley Cup finals.

LACKING ITEMS & GOING FORWARD

Of all of the areas where Carey Price needs to improve his stock, the playoffs are the most notable. The encouraging this is that he has already made major strides in this area over the last 2 seasons. His record over that span is 14 wins and 10 losses, and his GAA were 2.35 and 2.23 respectively. Not only did this improve his statistics, but it implies that a Stanley Cup may also be right around the corner. And that is the one trophy Carey Price needs more than any other to solidify the case to hang his jersey number in the rafters with so many other greats.

Let’s say we wind up with a worst case scenario and the Habs never win the Stanley Cup with Carey Price in net, is that the end of his case for his number to be retired? I certainly don’t believe so. Although it would be a very notable first for the Montreal Canadiens, if Carey Price puts together enough seasons that replicate his performance in 2014-15, there’s no reason the club should penalize him based solely on the team’s performance in the playoffs. At some point, you have to place some blame on how the team as a whole played within the playoffs and not penalize what was really the best player on the ice in each series.

Unlike Patrick Roy, his overall attitude – or lack of it – should allow him to continue prospering as a Habs net minder. The media loves him, fans adore him, and his nonchalant persona is exactly what a goaltender needs to have to survive long-term in Montreal.

His contract is settled at $6.5M per season through 2017-18. At 31 years old, he will be signing his next contract – most likely with the Habs. But, if he doesn’t sign with the Habs, that gives him another 180 to 200 games to prove his all-time value and bring a Stanley Cup to Montreal.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I enjoy pondering about these sorts of things because it puts into focus just how great some of the players we get to enjoy watching every single game are. If you’re ever left wondering why you should watch a game this season, do so because you’re going to be watching one of the all-time best Habs goaltenders. Carey Price is just beginning to harness his skills and to build up his accolades and trophy case. Nobody knows for certain how far he’ll be able to take the Habs every single season, but if he keep up his recent performances, we’re watching history in the making.

The Stanley Cup is the one goal Carey Price has in his sights and there aren’t many people who would be willing to bet he won’t achieve that goal. While I can’t wait to see whether or not he makes that happen, I also know that the Montreal Canadiens will have a pretty iron clad case to retire his number some day so long as he remains a Hab and continues to play this well.

If Carey Price continues to provide us with outstanding regular season performances and continues his recent playoff performances, his #31 should be retired regardless of whether or not his career includes a Stanley Cup.

If Carey Price is able to bring a Stanley Cup to Montreal, it’s essentially automatic. Were we forced to make a prediction today, I would bet on Price both winning the Stanley Cup and having his jersey retired as a Montreal Canadien.

What do you think? Should Carey Price’s #31 be considered for retirement once his playing career is over based on what we know today?

Next: The Year of Carey Price: Canadiens Season a Team Success

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