Canadiens: Three Teams Who Could Pull Off a Carey Price Trade

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The Montreal Canadiens have gone from Stanley Cup Final to 30th overall in the standings in a real hurry.

The team is off to its worst start ever, which is a long time when you are the oldest franchise in the sport. It has already resulted in some changes as general manager Marc Bergevin and his assistant, Trevor Timmins were fired over the weekend.

Jeff Gorton has been brought in to take over the front office and more changes are coming as a general manager search is underway. But will bigger on-ice changes be coming as well?

According to TSN Insider Pierre LeBrun, other teams will be interested in finding out just how deep the rebuild that Jeff Gorton is about to set out on will be. One player that would be difficult to trade for many reasons, but would seek the attention of other teams, is Carey Price. LeBrun mentioned some contending teams are already trying to gauge the interest in dealing Price.

It would be complicated though, for many reasons. For one, Price has not played yet this season due to injuries and off-ice issues related to substance use. He was in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program for the month of October and though he is back with the team he is just skating slowly on his own at this point.

He also has a no-movement clause that makes it more difficult to move him. Price would have to be fully on board with a trade and sign off on his no-move clause to let it happen.

Also, there is his enormous contract. Price makes $10.5 million this season and will continue to earn that much against the cap for four more seasons. Finding a team that can fit that in would be nearly impossible, so the team’s would have to get creative to make a deal work.

With all those roadblocks in place, which teams could possibly pull off a Price trade?

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 23: Samuel Girard. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche don’t necessarily need to go out and get a goaltender, but if Carey Price hits the market, they would certainly check in. They gave up a lot (a first round pick and Conor Timmins) for Darcy Kuemper over the offseason and he is a fine netminder who has the abilities to lead the Avs on a long playoff run.

The biggest issue with Kuemper is his health. He played only 27 games last season and 29 the year prior. He put up Vezina caliber numbers in 2018-19 and 2019-20, but he hasn’t in the past two seasons while also missing significant time with injury.

He is currently injured again right now and his timeline for a return is unknown. He was injured in the morning skate on Wednesday before the team faced the Toronto Maple Leafs and missed the last two games.

If he misses significant time, or doesn’t quickly find his form when he does return, the Avalanche will be looking for an upgrade in goal for a Stanley Cup run. They have some urgency this season as Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakowsky are unrestricted free agents at the end of this year and then Nathan MacKinnon is heading into the final year of his contract before being eligible to test free agency.

If the Avalanche look for an upgrade in goal, you can bet the Canadiens would target Samuel Girard in return. Girard makes $5 million against the cap, so if the Habs were to retain a couple of million on Price’s contract they could make things work.

MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 11: Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have the two best hockey players on the planet on their team but they still need to fill some holes before becoming real contenders. While a little help on the blue line and more depth scoring would be nice, a bonafide stud goaltender would make them a true contending team in the Western Conference.

Mikko Koskinen has been getting the bulk of starts for the Oilers this season and he has played fine, but there is no question moving from Koskinen to Price is a massive upgrade.

To make a deal work, the Canadiens would have to take on Koskinen and the rest of the final year of his $4.5 million contract. That is still a $6 million gap between contracts so the Habs would have to either take on more money or retain some of Price’s salary. He has four more years so retaining money isn’t ideal but the more they do the better the return in the trade.

The Canadiens can retain up to 50% of Price’s salary which is $5.25 million. They would be stuck with that dead cap hit until the end of the 2025-26 season though, so the Oilers would really have to make it worth their while.

That could be one of their top prospects, Dylan Holloway or Xavier Bourgault as well as a high draft pick in the 2022 NHL Draft that will be held in Montreal. The Oilers could make it work, it would just cost a lot for them to pull it off.

MONTREAL, QC – NOVEMBER 06: (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Vegas Golden Knights

Any time a big name gets traded the Vegas Golden Knights find a way to get into the mix, don’t they?

In their short existence they have already traded for Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Robin Lehner and Alex Martinez. They have always found a way to make it work and they really could do it again with Price is they wanted to pull it off.

While Lehner is their incumbent starter, he isn’t playing his best hockey this season. He has a 3.03 GAA and a .909 SV% to go with his 9-9-0 record. That’s not what the Golden Knights are looking for and they are among the most aggressive teams in recent memory so don’t be surprised if they start looking around for an upgrade.

The problem is Lehner’s contract which has three years left on it after this season and a $5 million cap hit. If the Canadiens are rebuilding, they don’t really want that contract, but the Golden Knights might not need to dump that much cap space.

If they can get a third team involved in the deal, the Knights would only need to take on 25% of Price’s remaining contract. They could ask the Habs to retain 50% and then have a third team pick up 25% of Price’s contract as well. If would be costly for the Knights but they have not been scared to trade picks and prospects before so why start now?

The Golden Knights would likely have to give up top prospect Brendan Brisson to the Habs as well as a third round pick to the third party that eats up so much cap space for them.

Price’s contract is huge, but there are always ways to work around those things to make deals work. The Vegas Golden Knights have no problem stretching the rules as far as they can to make a trade work and they could do it again.

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