Montreal Canadiens: Carey Price looks poised for a strong season

After having the worst season of his illustrious career, Carey Price looks ready to put everything behind him and have a strong season.

Back in the summer of 2017 when the Montreal Canadiens announced that they signed Carey Price to an eight-year deal worth 84 million dollars, everyone was pretty content. Before the 2016-17 season, he won the World Cup with Team Canada and was undefeated in international games. The Habs were coming off a first-round playoff exit and Price had a .923 save percentage during the season and a save percentage of .933 in the postseason.

He was the best goaltender in the world and he was going to be paid like it. It was a matter of when he would get paid. The deal he signed made him the highest paid goalie in the NHL by almost $2 million.

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At the time, it seemed like a slam dunk. But as the 2017-18 season rolled around, Price really struggled. He ended the season with a 16-26-7 record, a career-worst .900 save percentage, and a 3.11 goals against average.

The culprit of his anomaly of a bad season was “chronic fatigue and a lower-body issue” which was made public on January 2018. Then in February, he missed almost a month of action due to a concussion. He ended up playing 49 games, most of them injured.

With the Canadiens missing the playoffs and his many injuries, Price had months and months to recover and regain his game. In the preseason, he looked pretty good but his ultimate test was his first regular season game where he was fully healthy in over a year. Unfortunately for him, it was against the Stanley-Cup favorite Toronto Maple Leafs.

Having to face Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri, and John Tavares in your first game back is quite the task and Price was up for the challenge. Last season, Price often found himself out of position which was very un-Price-esque. Last night was vintage Carey. He was calm and collected when the Leafs were peppering shots and he was always in the right position to swallow the puck up.

The three goals he allowed were impossible to stop. One was a laser from Matthews, the second was a snipe from Tavares, and the third was another top-shelf shot from Matthews. The Leafs had other major chances, but Price was there to stop them every time. As the seconds were ticking away in the third period of the 2-2 game, he was bombarded with shots and bodies but anchored himself to the post and stayed strong.

Carey Price is at the top of his game when he can calm down the furious attack from the opposing team and that’s what he did last night with Toronto. Even though Montreal outplayed the Leafs, there were some huge chances that Price had to fight to keep out. His calmness under intense pressure is a sign for Montreal (and the league) that Price is fully back and ready for a strong season.