Rumor: Carey Price wanted out of Montreal.

Carey Price wanted to get away from the Canadiens?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Rumor: Carey Price wanted out of Montreal.
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It is no secret around the National Hockey League that the media scrutiny that comes with playing in certain markets around the league has often been a turnoff for many players. The city of Montreal is most certainly one of those markets with intense media scrutiny in multiple languages, both French and English, and one of the most rabid fan bases in all of sports.

One player who has seemingly never been phased by this however has been Montreal Canadiens star goaltender Carey Price. Price has been quite stoic throughout his career in Montreal both in front of the net for the Canadiens and in front of the camera when dealing with the media, but is it possible that years of intense media scrutiny on one of the franchises most popular players has finally worn the superstar down?

In a recent article published for the Toronto Sun, controversial columnist Steve Simmons strongly hinted at the fact that there is a widely held belief that Price may want out of Montreal. To be clear here Simmons did not cite anyone with personal knowledge of Price's feelings on the matter, but rather indicated that hockey people he spoke to believed Carey Price was hoping to get picked up in the expansion draft.

From Simmons:

This may be completely unrelated to Carey Price’s current personal situation, but more than one hockey person was convinced this summer that Price wanted to be chosen in the expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken but remained in Montreal instead …

The "personal situation" that Simmons is referring to here is the announcement this week that Price would step away from the team for a brief period of time in order to enter the National Hockey League's and the National Hockey League Players Association's player assistance program. His wife Angela Price has indicated in her public comments on the matter that the decision to do so pertains to Carey Price's mental health.

On some level both Carey Price and the Canadiens knew that there was a chance he would be selected by the Kraken when left unprotected in the expansion draft. Price did agree to waive his trade protection in order to be exposed in the draft, which would imply that he was at the very least comfortable with the idea of playing in another market. Whether or not that means he genuinely wanted out of Montreal though is another matter entirely.

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