What If Carey Price Did Not Get Injured in 2014? The Canadiens’ Lost Stanley Cup Opportunity

The Montreal Canadiens have been on the chase for their 25th Stanley Cup victory since they last won in 1993. The team looked poised to end that drought in the 2013-14 season before an injury sidetracked their playoff run. Halfway through the first game of the Eastern Conference Final, star goalie Carey Price suffered a knee injury that would sideline him for the rest of the playoffs. It remains one of the biggest "What Ifs" in Canadiens history. Had Price not been knocked out of that series, could the team have gone on to win it all?

The Canadiens were going all in during this playoff run. They added arguably the biggest name available at the trade deadline in Thomas Vanek, while also trading for depth pieces in Dale Weise and Mike Weaver. The Canadiens made quick work of the Lightning in round one before a tough battle with the Bruins, which saw the Habs come back after being down 3-2 in the series to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.

Price was in his usual great form during the 2013-14 playoff run. The future Vezina and Hart trophy winner was 8-4 in his starts, posting a 2.36 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. Then, in game one against the Rangers, Price's postseason would come to an unexpected end after forward Chris Kreider crashed into the netminder, injuring his knee, which would keep him out for the rest of the playoffs.

The Canadiens chose Dustin Tokarski to start over Peter Budaj, Price's backup during the regular season. Tokarski had just 10 NHL games under his belt, but had impressed in limited action during the regular season. The Canadiens believed Tokarski gave them the best chance of beating the Rangers. Tokarski surprised most people with his play in this series. His efforts kept the Canadiens in the fight, but despite his good play, they fell short of the finals, losing the series in six games. Tokarski was not the reason the Canadiens lost the series, but not having Price, in a series where you are facing a team that also had a Vezina-calibre goalie in Henrik Lundqvist, made it an uphill battle.

Now, if Price had not gotten hurt in that series, would it have been a guarantee that the Canadiens would have beaten the Rangers? Nothing is a guarantee, but they definitely would have had a better shot. Tokarski had some great moments in the series, but his play was inconsistent, posting multiple sub-.900 save percentage games.

In Price, you not only had one of the best goalies in the NHL, but a player who can steal an entire series. However, even if they had been able to take down the Rangers with a healthy Price, the team waiting for them in the finals was a different kind of beast.

The Los Angeles Kings were one of the best teams in the league during the early 2010s. They were a battle-tested team that won the Stanley Cup in 2011-12, and in a five-year stretch, the only team that could match up with them was the Chicago Blackhawks. Every one of their series wins in the 2013-14 run to winning the Stanley Cup, minus the final, were seven-game wars, beating their nemesis, the Blackhawks, in the process. They made quick work of the Rangers in the finals, beating them in five games, which opened the door to the "What If" scenario of if Price were healthy, would the Canadiens put up a better fight?

Let us say the Canadiens got past the Rangers with a healthy Price. The Kings would still have been a big problem. The San Jose Sharks thought they had them dead in the water, but even with a 3-0 lead in the series, they were not able to take them down in a best-of-seven matchup. They were fast, physical, and had one of the deepest rosters in the league. To go along with that, their goalie, Jonathan Quick, always seemed to find another gear when the playoffs came around.

The Canadiens would have needed Price to play like the best player on the planet to have a chance of beating the Kings, which he was capable of doing. Plausible? Yes. Probable? Maybe not. But thanks to Kreider, we are left wondering if that was the opportunity for the Canadiens to raise banner 25.