With Carey Price entering the final year of his contract this summer, the Montreal Canadiens can officially sign him to an extension as of July 1st. That’s what GM Marc Bergevin intends to do, leaving little time for speculation on the all-world goaltender’s future. Price himself said today to John Lu of TSN tin that he wants to stay in Montreal, and is motivated to re-sign under new coach Claude Julien. Bergevin also said that he would not trade Price for anyone. 
In 2017-18 Price will be in the last season of a six-year $39MM extension he signed as a restricted free agent in the summer of 2012, and an extension may result in the highest cap-hit among goaltenders in the league. That record is currently held by the goaltender that just eliminated Price and the Habs, with Henrik Lundqvist holding an $8.5MM cap hit this season. Lundqvist was 32 when his current seven-year extension came into effect, while Price will be just 31. With both goaltenders never winning a Stanley Cup but leading their respective countries to Olympic gold, they are an apt comparison as the Canadiens enter negotiations.
Price and Lundqvist both hold a career .920 save percentage in the regular season and have each won a single Vezina trophy. While it may be argued that Lundqvist has shown more consistency throughout his career, Price broke in at a much younger age and is still in prime goaltending years. Lundqvist on the other hand may be showing signs of decline—though not in these playoffs—as he enters his mid-thirties. Price’s extension will assume the same risk, as he’ll undoubtedly be locked up for at least seven years.
After this morning hearing that both Alexander Radulov and Andrei Markov would like to return to the Canadiens, it would seem as though this summer is as much about locking up the current team as adding new parts for Bergevin. He needs to address the center position among other things, but will first look to maintain the status quo with some of this year’s best performers. It will be interesting to see just how much money he hands to the trio (if all three re-sign), and how much he looks towards the future after a disappointing first round exit.
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