Canadiens re-sign Carey Price to 8-year, $84 million contract

On many nights, it seemed like Carey Price was been asked to win games for the Montreal Canadiens all by himself.

On Sunday, GM Marc Bergevin rewarded him, signing the 29-year-old goaltender to an eight-year, $84 million contract extension.

So $70 million worth of signing bonuses in Price's $84 million contract. Wow.

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 2, 2017

The new deal, which kicks in after next season, includes a no-trade clause.

Re: Carey Price's 8 year $84M deal. It contains a NO TRADE clause which starts right away in year one of the new deal #TSN690

— Tony Marinaro (@TonyMarinaro) July 2, 2017

Price’s $10.5 million cap hit is currently tied for the highest in league for 2018-19, level with Chicago’s Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, although Connor McDavid’s new deal could blow that out of the water.

While the former Hart and Vezina Trophy winner leads all goaltenders in save percentage over the past four seasons ( .928 save percentage in his last 199 regular season games) and is the best netminder in the league, this new contract is not without risk for the Habs.

As great as he is, this new contract will pay Price $3 million more than any other goaltender in the league by the time it kicks in.

''We're going to make sure that Carey Price finishes his career in Montreal. '' – Marc Bergevin #GoHabsGo

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) July 2, 2017

Price, who turns 30 this summer, will be paid handsomely until age 37. There’s no denying his talent, but nobody knows how the veteran of 509 NHL games will age.

In a league where there’s seemingly always a plethora of good goalies available, there has to be serious questions asked about locking in so much money in that position. At the same time, Price had a lot of leverage in contract negotiations.

Montreal could not afford to let Price, their best player, walk away for nothing, so they didn’t. The Canadiens’ best chance to win a Stanley Cup includes Price leading the charge.

If Price ages well and the salary cap continues to rise, the Canadiens will be happy with this deal.

"At the moment, I don't have any news regarding Markov or Radulov." – Marc Bergevin

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) July 2, 2017

Bergevin’s challenge is to improve the rest of his team. Montreal signed Karl Alzner as a free agent on Saturday, and could still elect to bring back Andrei Markov and Alexander Radulov.

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