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Montreal Canadiens: Three Times The Habs Failed To Capitalize On Carey Price’s Greatness

By Ken MacMillan

Oct 15, 2015; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2015; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 10, 2016; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens Carey Price Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2016; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens Carey Price Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /

2014-15 Season

The 2014-15 season was when Carey Price was at his absolute best. He had just won a gold medal at the 2014 Olympics with Canada while posting ridiculous numbers, and he was doing the same at the NHL level all season.

At season’s end, Price had a 1.96 GAA, a .933 SV%, 44 wins in 66 games and a whole lot of hardware that was handed out at the annual awards ceremony. Price was picked as the Hart Trophy winner, the Vezina winner, the Lester Pearson winner and he also took home the William Jennings Trophy.

The Canadiens, as a team, were cruising along all year, finishing the season with 110 points, tops among their division and second in the eastern conference. However, there were some clear needs on the roster, as David Desharnais was their first line centre but had just 14 goals and 48 points on the season.

The team was also using Dale Weise on the top line quite frequently and definitely could have used some scoring help. Instead, they traded for Jeff Petry, which turned out to be a fantastic deal, but at the time he wasn’t a big point producer. Up front, they only acquired Torrey Mitchell and Bryan Flynn at the deadline, and Devante Smith-Pelly was added a few weeks earlier.

The Canadiens scored seven goals in the first two games of the playoffs, against Andrew Hammond in the Senators goal, and then had just 18 more goals for in the next ten games and they lost in the second round to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Would they have fared better had they acquired someone like David Perron or Jaromir Jagr who were available that year and could have bumped Dale Weise from the top line? What about Antoine Vermette, who went to the Chicago Blackhawks at the deadline and was their second line centre as they won the Stanley Cup?

Yes, yes they would have done better. They had the best goaltender in the world and not nearly enough scoring so they picked up Torrey Mitchell and Brian Flynn and it didn’t work out. Looking back, would trading the first round pick that became Noah Juulsen have been too much to add a first line forward like David Perron?

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