Why Moving Carey Price’s Contract is a Monumental Task for the Montreal Canadiens

0 Diana khan September 02, 2025

As the NHL’s summer slumber comes to a close, the buzz around the Montreal Canadiens isn’t about who will make the team, but rather about a player who hasn’t seen the ice in years: Carey Price. With his hefty $10.5 million cap hit still on the books, many fans and pundits believe that with his signing bonus paid, moving his contract should be a simple affair. However, as someone who has followed the intricacies of the NHL’s salary cap for years, I can tell you it’s anything but.

The idea that a rebuilding team will simply absorb Price’s contract without a significant incentive is a fantasy. While the actual cash owed to Price for the remainder of his deal is “only” $2 million, the cap hit is the real albatross here. For a team like the San Jose Sharks or the Chicago Blackhawks, taking on that kind of dead weight, even for a single season, hamstrings their ability to make other moves and weaponize their cap space for assets. This isn’t a simple transaction; it’s a complex chess move with significant ramifications.

The True Cost of Offloading a Legend’s Contract

The crux of the issue lies in the fact that every other NHL team knows the Montreal Canadiens are in a bind. Kent Hughes and the Canadiens’ front office are currently operating above the salary cap, and while placing Price on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) provides temporary relief, it’s a Band-Aid solution. It prevents them from accruing valuable cap space during the season, which is crucial for a team looking to add pieces at the NHL trade deadline or navigate unforeseen injuries.

This puts Hughes in a position of weakness. He’s not just trying to offload a contract; he’s trying to do so when every other GM knows he needs to. That’s why names like the Sharks, Blackhawks, and even the Penguins are being thrown around. These are teams in various stages of rebuilding or retooling who could theoretically take on the contract, but they won’t do it out of the goodness of their hearts. They will demand a sweetener, and as Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports pointed out, that could mean a valuable draft pick—perhaps a second-rounder—going the other way.

So, while the path to trading Price’s contract may seem clearer now that his bonus has been paid, the toll booth at the end of that path is expensive. The Montreal Canadiens are in a situation where they have to give up an asset to get rid of an asset that is no longer on the ice. It’s a bitter pill to swallow for a franchise and a fanbase that once viewed Price as their savior. The reality is that the final chapter of the Carey Price era in Montreal won’t be a heroic save, but a costly cap maneuver.