Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price has somehow attracted his fair share of doubters during his career.
Though he can make a very compelling case that he is the best goalie the world has seen over the past decade, there are never a shortage of people questioning his big contract.
If anyone still had doubts about the player, his recent postseason performance should have silenced them. Price backstopped the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Final last season, shutting down the high powered offences of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights on that run.
When they ultimately fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final, it was announced that Price had been battling a couple of rather large injuries during his impressive play in the playoffs. He had surgery on his knee shortly after the season ended and also had to have his hip looked at by specialists.
Price is back skating now, and it appeared he would be ready for the regular season, but he is currently shut down.
Though that is not what you want to hear in the middle of training camp, it sounds like it is pretty innocent. The team announced Price was taking a few days off to see if his skating and training over the past few days had caused any swelling.
Hopefully he feels fine after a few days off and can take the next steps toward preparing for the regular season. The Canadiens have a pair of preseason games with the Ottawa Senators this weekend, and I wouldn’t expect to see Price in those.
If everything goes well the rest of this week, it is possible we see him play part of one of the Habs last two preseason games next week before the regular season begins on October 13th against the Maple Leafs.