Canadiens fans have long memories.
When the New York Rangers were at the Bell Centre on Jan. 19, Chris Kreider was booed just about every time he touched the puck. Kreider scored a goal, but the Canadiens beat the Rangers 5-4 in overtime.
Canadiens fans still haven’t forgotten it was Kreider who crashed into goalie Carey Price in Game 1 of the 2014 Eastern Conference final at the Bell Centre while charging to the net with the puck. Price injured his right knee on the second-period play — with the Rangers leading 2-0 — and was done for the series. The Rangers would go on to win the best-of-seven series in five games before losing the Stanley Cup final in five games to the Los Angeles Kings.
Price recovered in time for the start of the next season, but it was the first in a series of knee injuries that would eventually end his career. Price still has one more season after this remaining on his eight-year, US$84-million contract, but he played his last game three years ago. He’s now living in Kelowna, B.C., with his wife, Angela, and their three children — Liv, 8, Millie, 6, and Lincoln, 4.
While Canadiens fans will probably never forgive Kreider, Price doesn’t hold any grudge toward him.
“It was part of it … I wouldn’t call it the problem,” Price said during a 25-minute phone interview Thursday from Kelowna, B.C., when asked if the collision with Kreider led to the end of his career. “But, no, I don’t harbour any animosity towards him. It was just a play and it was the playoffs and it was kind of a quick play. I definitely don’t harbour any ill will towards him.”
But you can bet Canadiens fans will keep booing Kreider every time he plays at the Bell Centre.
Close to the Cup
The Canadiens did advance to the Stanley Cup final in 2021 in large part because of Price before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games. Price posted a 13-9 record during that unexpected playoff run, along with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage. He did it while his right knee was throbbing in pain.
“It was pretty uncomfortable,” Price recalled. “The games … you get into the game and you got the adrenaline and all that. You’re so focused on the task at hand. I think the worst part about the whole run was probably the morning skates.”
Price’s teammate and close friend Shea Weber was also playing through excruciating pain during that playoff run.
Weber played with a torn UCL in his thumb, a torn ankle tendon, a meniscus ligament injury in his knee and then he tore his groin in the semifinal series against the Vegas Golden Knights. Weber played in all 22 playoff games that year and averaged 25:13 of ice time.
“Hockey has given me so much to be grateful for,” Weber said when he was at the Bell Centre last November to be inducted into the Ring of Honour after being voted into the Hall of Fame. “I laid it all out … I did whatever it took, especially during that (Stanley Cup) run because we were so close and it was getting to that point where you’re willing to literally not be able to walk to help the team.”
Price said he and Weber never really talked much together about the injuries they were both playing through during that playoff run and whether it might be the end of their careers.
“I think everybody at that time was just so focused on what the goal was and what we were trying to accomplish that we were just in it, you know what I mean?” Price said.
Fondest memory
After being selected fifth overall at the 2005 NHL Draft, Price played 15 seasons with the Canadiens.
He holds franchise records for most games played by a goalie (712) and most wins (361). He had a 361-261-7 record during the regular season, along with a 2.51 goals-against average, a .917 save percentage and 49 shutouts. In the playoffs, Price had a losing record (43-45) despite posting a 2.39 GAA and a .919 save percentage, which speaks volumes about the lack of offensive production in front of him during those years.
Price had a remarkable 2014-15 season when he posted a 44-16-6 record with a 1.96 GAA, a .933 save percentage and nine shutouts, winning the Hart Trophy as league MVP and the Vézina Trophy as the best goaltender. Price also won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2021-22 as the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication.
During the summer of 2021, Price’s surgeon discovered an osteochondral defect (cartilage damage/loss) while cleaning up a torn meniscus in his right knee — which essentially causes the knee joints to rub together bone-on-bone. Price then entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program in October of that year to deal with substance abuse.
Price played the final five games of his career at the end of the 2021-22 season, posting a 1-4-0 record with a 3.63 GAA and an .878 save percentage.
He said the highlight of his NHL career was the 2021 playoff run.
“Well, the Cup run was obviously a lot of fun in a lot of aspects,” he said. “I was able to be a part of so many special moments in Montreal, being there for so long. Being a part of a centennial season, being part of an All-Star Game there, being a part of jersey retirements. I got the opportunity to take in so many different special events. But I think above all else, being part of a Stanley Cup run was a lot of fun.”
His final game at the Bell Centre — a 10-2 win over the Florida Panthers in the season finale on April 29, 2022 — is also a special memory for Price with his wife and children in attendance, realizing it was most likely the last game of his career.
“I remember that whole day pretty vividly,” Price said. “Heeding my own advice, I just enjoyed the moment and, hopefully, I’ll be able to remember that for the rest of my life.”
Does he have any regrets or wish he had done anything different during his career?
“Very few,” Price said. “Obviously, winning would be the biggest one. But there’s not a whole lot, no, I would change.”
Bright lights, big city
Price was only 20 when he started his first NHL season with the Canadiens in 2007-08 after helping the Hamilton Bulldogs win the Calder Cup the previous season. He posted a 15-6 record for the Bulldogs during the AHL playoffs with a 2.06 GAA, a .936 save percentage and two shutouts.
Montreal was a new world for Price, who grew up in tiny Anahim Lake, B.C., with a population around 1,500, and played junior hockey for the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash., where he also met his wife.
“It was an adjustment,” Price said about living in Montreal.
“I remember when I would come from Anahim Lake to Williams Lake I thought Williams Lake was the big city,” Price added with a chuckle. “Then I got to play junior in Tri-Cities. Everything was in steps … a little bit bigger city and then going to Hamilton, a little bit bigger, and then getting to Montreal and being put in that spotlight. I wouldn’t say it was overwhelming, but I would definitely say that it was an exciting time. As a 20-year-old being able to play in Montreal and live your dream and we had a really good hockey team, too. We were playing really well. It was just an exciting time for a 20-year-old kid.”
Price said it’s not a bad idea 20-year-old Canadiens rookie defenceman Lane Hutson has decided to live with his mother this season as he adjusts to life in Montreal after two seasons at Boston University.
“I think as hockey players — especially in my situation as a junior hockey player — you’re put up with billets, so when you turn pro it’s kind of your first venture on your own,” he said. “I know that when I was in Montreal living on my own for the first time that was an adjustment. I don’t think it’s a bad idea for those young players to have someone to help out. Really, at the end of the day, it’s kind of like when you move away for college. It’s an adjustment, so it’s not a bad idea to have some help.”
Life in Candiac
After living in Montreal’s Old Port for three years, Price and his wife decided to put down some roots in Candiac on the South Shore, close to the Canadiens’ practice facility in Brossard.
“The parking was a lot better,” Price said with a chuckle when asked what he liked about living on the South Shore. “We decided to buy that place in Candiac with the hope that we were going to be there for an extended period of time and it really turned into just an amazing place to be for the next 12 years.
“Over that time, we didn’t have kids and then when we started to have kids it felt like we really grew into that home,” Price added. “Not only the home itself, but the neighbourhood. We had amazing neighbours. Paul Byron lived right down the street. It was an awesome place for my kids to have that short period of growing up in.”
Several Canadiens players used to live in Candiac — including Weber — but the only current player still living there is David Savard. Price sold his Candiac home last year.
Price and Weber now live about a 10-minute drive from each other in Kelowna. They remain good friends and their children and wives are also close. Price’s parents recently moved to Kelowna.
Small-town roots
Price has been doing media interviews recently as a spokesperson for Kraft Hockeyville, a program that has awarded Canadian communities more than $5.1 million to maintain or upgrade sports and recreation infrastructure — including arenas — over the past 19 years. Communities interested in this year’s Kraft Hockeyville competition — with an opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game and receive $250,000 toward arena upgrades — have until 11:59 on March 2 to apply.
Price has a strong connection with grass-roots hockey after growing up in Anahim Lake and said he really appreciates what Kraft Hockeyville does to help small hockey communities.
Price said he started out as a defenceman in minor hockey and was around 8 years old when he played his first game in goal. He remembers his father having to drive him from Anahim Lake to Williams Lake — about a three-and-a-half-hour drive each way — for games and practices.
“I just drove up to Anahim Lake from Williams Lake and back to Williams Lake a few days ago — all in one day — and that’s all I could think about was all the amount of hours we spent in that car together and what a commitment it was to drive to and from hockey every week,” Price recalled. “We spent a lot of time together in the car.”
Price was around 8 when he attended his first NHL game in Vancouver.
“I remember I was pretty excited,” he recalled. “I think the Canucks were playing the Ducks if I remember right.”
Price grew up cheering for the Canucks and remembers crying in 1994 when they lost the Stanley Cup final to the New York Rangers.
“In general, I would say that I was more of a hockey fan — especially a goalie fan,” Price said. “Probably (Martin) Brodeur was the guy that I looked up to the most. Patrick (Roy) was there. Cujo (Curtis Joseph), Félix Potvin. All those guys I looked up to.”
What would Price have ended up doing if he didn’t make it as a goalie in the NHL?
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “I probably would have been doing something blue collar, that’s for sure. I’ve always enjoyed tinkering and working with my hands. I also enjoy the outdoors and wildlife. I would have been either working in the outdoors or making stuff or fixing stuff, probably.”
Hunting remains one of his passions.
“The fall’s pretty busy,” he said. “We jump over to Alberta and we hunt with my relatives over there. All my dad’s side is from Alberta. I do some hunting in Quebec, too, when I come back, usually for the first game of the season. I have some friends on the South Shore. I go stay at their farm down there. A really nice family. They have two boys who play hockey, too. I go down there usually for a week and hang out.”
Things change
There are only six players left on the Canadiens who played with Price — Nick Suzuki, Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia, Jake Evans and Cole Caufield.
Price said he still keeps in touch.
“I still talk to guys occasionally,” he said. “I actually talk to guys quite often who have moved on from the team. But there’s a few guys that I’m always happy to talk with, especially more so when I come to town because you know how guys can be. ‘You good?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘You good?’ ‘Yeah’. It’s always good to see the fellows that I played with and even the current players and have a chat with them when I’m in town.”
Who were Price’s closest friends on the Canadiens?
“I’ve had a few,” he said. “I wouldn’t say one more than the other. But, obviously, P.K. was one of them. Shea was one of them. (Jeff) Petry was one of them. Paul Byron. I felt like I was pretty good friends with most of my teammates over the years. I was fortunate enough to have a lot of guys that I continue to have a strong friendship with today.”
Bright spotlight
There are few positions in sports that come with more pressure than being goalie for the Canadiens under Montreal’s bright spotlight.
I asked Price what’s the best advice he has for young goalies like Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler, who could become the team’s goalie of the future.
“Like when I was 20, I would just say stay focused on what’s important, watch your work ethic and your task at hand and accomplish every day what you set out to do when you go to the rink,” Price said. “And enjoy the experience because it goes by so fast.”
Price still keeps track of how the Canadiens are doing and likes the rebuilding job GM Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations, and head coach Martin St. Louis are doing.
“It’s been up and down this year, but I’m a big fan of what’s going on in Montreal,” Price said. “I think all those guys are excellent hockey minds and they have really good attitudes. I really enjoy when I do go to Montreal to visit with them because they have a very positive outlook. It was really exciting to watch the team catch fire there for a little while and I hope they can continue that for the rest of the year.”