Finished 65-game seasons for Carey Price

In 2010-2011, Carey Price took his place 72 times in the net to later coach his club to a quick exit in the first round of the playoffs.

Posted on October 09, 2019 at 6:00 am

Richard Labbé
The Press

Next, the star goalie had 65, 66 and 66 more games last season. And that's exactly what the Canadiens is trying to avoid this season.

Thus, unless a strong turnaround, it is the reservist Keith Kinkaid who will handle the game tonight in Buffalo, against the Sabers.

The thing was not confirmed yesterday by head coach Claude Julien, but the Montreal club begins a series of three games in four days, and we see poorly Price rater the first game of the season at the Bell Center tomorrow night , or miss the Saturday night fixture at the same venue against the Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues.

At age 32, Price is no longer the young man of 2010-2011, and that's why the Canadiens' management has already let it be known that it was hoping for a season of about 55 starts this season.

"The workload must take into account the realities of the calendar, and also my state of health, explained the number 31 after the training morning, yesterday in Brossard. It's hard to come up with an exact number of games because it really depends on one thing: how I feel at this point in the season. "

Weekly

For now, the plan is essentially decided by the week, taking into account the rigors of the upcoming calendar. Price swears it has nothing to do with this decision.

"When and where I'm going to play this season, it's all up to the coach … and it's not really something you can decide very much in advance. There are too many variables, too many things that can change quickly, especially in terms of health status. That's why you have to go to the week. "

Price claims he does not remember how he felt after his 72-game season, but the numbers tell us that for the NHL goaltenders, those days are over.

Thus, last season, only two goalkeepers took part in more than 65 games: Price and Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild. By way of comparison, in the 2010-2011 season of Price's 72 games, eight goalies had played in 65 games or more, including Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes, a champion in this category with 74 appearances on the clock. A figure that seems impossible in the new reality of hockey.

Kinkaid, who briefly served as New Jersey Reservist to Martin Brodeur, the king of the 70-plus-plus seasons, believes shared custody of nets is a growing phenomenon.

Last June, the two goalkeepers of the grand final, Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins and Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues, were two fresh men; neither had reached the 50-game mark during the season.

"The goalkeepers of 60 games and more, we will see less and less because of injuries," said Kinkaid. I have not been in this league for so long, but already, I can see how much faster the game has become than it was. For a goalkeeper, everything is more difficult: the game itself, but also the travel to play abroad, the impacts received by the body, and all that ends up affecting us. "

In the case of the Canadian, however, there is another reality to consider: with his salary of $ 10.5 million per season, Price can hardly be left on the bench too long. Such a strategy would not be very profitable from a strictly financial point of view.

But no matter, Kinkaid will be ready.

"I was not told how many games I would have this summer when I said yes to the Canadian," he added. But I will be ready. It's my job to be ready. "