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

The Montreal Canadiens have not won a Stanley Cup since 1993. That is a drought that is sure to reach 30 years following the upcoming season, a season in which they are more likely to finish last then first.

They did have some opportunities to end that Stanley Cup drought in the past three decades. They did still have a pretty good squad in 1994, backed by Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, but he was injured late in a series against the Boston Bruins and the Habs were eliminated early.

Many of their playoff successes since have come because of great goaltending. The team has been as far as the conference finals on three occasions since their last triumph. Each of those playoff runs was attributed to their goaltender playing at a ridiculous level for an extended period of time.

The first lengthy playoff run since 1993 was in 2010 when an unproven Jaroslav Halak carried the team past the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins in thrilling seven game victories before bowing out in round three. The Habs were vastly outplayed in almost every game, but Halak was sensational, stealing the series from the Caps and Pens.

The Habs had another playoff run in 2014 when Carey Price was at the top of his game. He was lights out in series wins over the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins, before being injured in Game 1 against the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Canadiens made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, with Price once again playing to an extremely high level. This time, the team in front of him played quite well too, but the Habs were no match for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the final round.

Goaltending is an essential component of an NHL team, and the Canadiens had a great one in Price for a decade. There were other chances for the Canadiens to make long playoff runs, but they never really pushed their chips into the middle of the table during Price’s entire career.

With Price sitting out this season, it looks like his playing career is over. Looking back at his time with the Canadiens, there are three instances that stand out as missed opportunities for the Canadiens who should have been more aggressive in trying to win when they had a stellar goaltender in their crease.

2010-11 Season

The Canadiens made a run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2010, and then traded Halak who carried them there. This put the hopes of the franchise squarely on Carey Price’s shoulders, and he looked every bit up to the task in 2010-11.

Still just 23 years old, Price took on a huge workload by playing 72 games and he posted a 2.35 GAA and a .923 SV%. He finished 5th in Vezina Trophy voting, helped the Habs finish as the 6th seed in the east despite significant injuries and gave them a fighting chance in their first round against the stacked Boston Bruins.

The Canadiens mangement team, led at that time by general manager Pierre Gauthier, didn’t really go all out at the trade deadline. When Andrei Markov was injured early in the season, they acquired James Wisniewski and later picked up Brent Sopel for defensive depth.

However, Max Pacioretty was having a fine breakout season and was firmly in the team’s top six when he was injured by a jarring check from Zdeno Chara. Pacioretty had 14 goals and 24 points in 37 games at the time of his injury but the Habs chose not to acquire anyone to add to their top six forward group.

When Pacioretty was healthy early in that season, he joined Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Andrei Kostitsyn, Tomas Plekanec and Scott Gomez in a decent, yet unspectacular top six. Without Pacioretty, the team was forced to try and have Benoit Pouliot, Mathieu Darche or Travis Moen play top six minutes every night.

The Canadiens would lose in overtime in Game 7 in the first round to the Bruins that year, before the Bruins embarked on a Stanley Cup championship run. There is no telling how much farther they could have gone with an added top six piece, but with Price putting up a 2.11 GAA and a .934 SV% against the powerhouse Bruins, that year’s Habs would have been a tough out for anyone.

But, they very well could have knocked off their eldest rival in that first round had they gone out and acquired someone like Dustin Penner, Brad Boyes or even an aging Cory Stillman or Alex Kovalev on the cheap at that year’s trade deadline.

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?