Stu Cowan: Kraken face bigger risk than Canadiens with Carey Price – Montreal Gazette

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There are some who will say Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin is taking a big risk by not protecting Carey Price for Wednesday’s NHL expansion draft (8 p.m., SN1, TVA Sports 2) for the Seattle Kraken.

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But the bigger risk is on the Kraken if the team decides to take the 33-year-old goalie who has five more seasons remaining on his eight-year, US$84-million contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $10.5 million.

It’s the contract Bergevin isn’t protecting more than the goalie after Price agreed to waive his no-movement clause for the expansion draft. It’s similar to the situation the Nashville Predators were in when they traded Shea Weber to the Canadiens five years ago in exchange for P.K. Subban. Predators GM David Poile was trading the last 10 years of Weber’s contract — a 14-year, US$114-million deal with an annual salary-cap hit of $7.857 million — more than he was trading his captain.

Poile was forced to match the ridiculous offer sheet the Philadelphia Flyers gave Weber in summer 2012 in order to keep him in Nashville. But the day the Predators GM matched the offer was also probably the day he realized he would eventually have to trade Weber’s contract.

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The Canadiens have Price’s and Weber’s contracts for the next five seasons eating up $18.375 million of a flat NHL salary cap of $81.5 million. That works out to 23 per cent of the team’s payroll.

But that could change before next season with the possibility of the Kraken taking Price and his contract, and reports Weber could miss next season — and possibly longer — because of wrist, foot, ankle and knee injuries. It also looks like the Canadiens will lose Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar to free agency and it’s hard to imagine Jonathan Drouin playing in Montreal again.

Bergevin could have a ton of cash to go free-agent shopping when the market opens next Wednesday and the Canadiens could be a much different team next season.

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Nobody forced Bergevin to sign Price to his $84-million deal, but it’s a contract he probably wouldn’t mind getting rid of and the expansion draft is probably his last chance. It’s hard to imagine Price waiving his no-movement clause if his next possible destination wasn’t Seattle, which is closer to his off-season home in Kelowna, B.C., and the home of his wife’s family in Kennewick, Wash.

The Kraken are starting from scratch and as a result are probably the only team that can afford a salary-cap hit of $10.5 million for a goalie for the next five seasons because they don’t have any other big contracts they’re stuck with and can build their team around Price. At this point, Price’s health and inconsistent play during the last couple of seasons must be a bigger concern to the Kraken than his contract. There have been reports Price has a knee problem that might require surgery and that he also has a hip issue. After being fired as Canadiens goalie coach this season, Stéphane Waite spoke about Price having a history of knee, hip and back issues that he has had to learn to play through.

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If the Canadiens lose Price to Seattle, Bergevin would have to find another experienced goalie to share the duties with Jake Allen because it appears Cayden Primeau needs at least one more full season with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.

One of the goalies who could be available on the free-agent market is Jonathan Bernier, who had a 9-11-1 record with a 2.99 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage on a bad Detroit Red Wings team this season. The 32-year-old, who had a $3-million salary-cap hit in Detroit, had made at least 30 starts in each of his previous seven full NHL seasons. If the Canadiens lose Danault and Drouin, you have to think Bergevin will be under pressure to have at least one francophone on the team next season and Bernier would help fill that void. Other goalies who could be available as free agents include Frederik Andersen and Jaroslav Halak (remember him?).

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In Seattle, Price would immediately become the face of the franchise, like goalie Marc-André Fleury was for the Vegas Golden Knights after they selected him from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the last expansion draft in 2017. Of course, Fleury is a lot better dealing with the media than Price — a man of very few words at the best of times — and did an impressive job selling the Golden Knights on and off the ice after arriving in Las Vegas.

As for the Canadiens, leaving Price unprotected is sort of a win-win situation for Bergevin. If Seattle doesn’t take him, Price and Allen will be back together next season and Bergevin will hope Price can maintain the form he showed in the playoffs and stay somewhat healthy for the next five years. If Seattle takes Price, Bergevin gets rid of a massive contract and can spend money to fill holes at other positions while changing the look of his team.

One thing that must be in the back of Bergevin’s mind, however, is something an NHL scout once told me.

“You don’t really appreciate elite goaltending until it’s gone.”

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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