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

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.