Montreal Canadiens: Carey Price Running Out of Time To Make Olympics

The Montreal Canadiens have battled a ton of injuries this season and are off to a terrible start to the year.

The most significant absence from the team at this point in time is Carey Price.

The goaltender was excellent in the postseason last year, helping carry the team to the Stanley Cup Final where they ultimately lost in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Price then went through a wild offseason where he was not protected in the expansion draft, then it was announced he would have surgery and he did, and then just as training camp was beginning Price stepped away to join the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program for help dealing with substance use. It has been just over a month since he finished that program but he is still yet to play.

He is back skating with no equipment on but it would appear he is still a few weeks away from playing games with the Canadiens.

Though the Canadiens season is already finished, there are many Canadians who could be counting on Price to play for them in February.

The Winter Olympics take place in just over two months in Beijing, China and NHL players are slated to return for the first time since 2014. It was in that tournament where Price was pretty much unbeatable, posting shutouts in the semifinal and gold medal game as Canada dominated on its way to winning the prestigious event.

If healthy, Price would almost certainly be starting game one for Canada at the Olympics. But with him not playing at all yet this season, questions are starting to rise about whether he will be on the team or not.

Team Canada’s general manager Doug Armstrong hasn’t ruled out Price, but kind of set a timeline where he wants to see Price playing by.

Essentially, Armstrong said he would want to see Price up and running by Christmas to be comfortable enough to use a roster spot on the Canadiens goaltender. Armstrong has to name his roster in early January, so he would like to see Price playing well for a few games before making any final decisions.

However, it sounds like Price might not even be back by Christmas. It really doesn’t make sense for a struggling team like the Canadiens to rush him back and he hasn’t put on goalie equipment since early July.

Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme recently said it is not likely that Price will be back before Christmas.

Those two comments form a very tight timeline for Price to get back long enough for Canada’s management team to be comfortable enough to put him on their team.

Basically, Price needs to get back around Christmas and he needs to playing great right away.

Canada doesn’t have a lot of terrific options in goal right now. In years past they had incredible depth in the crease, but that is not the case. They can’t afford to give Price a spot if he is still battling a nagging injury, and might not be able to carry the load for them during the tournament.

At the end of last season, it seemed like a sure thing that Price would be starting at the Olympics, but time is getting tight and he might be left off the roster altogether.