Should Carey Price’s number be retired?

[Lafleurs Guy]

At no point was Carey Price better than Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid.

I’d say for a brief period you could argue he was the best player in the game. He just couldn’t stay healthy.

People talk about his 2014-15 season and for good reason. But the 13-14 season was probably the best I’ve ever seen. He was superhuman that year especially after the Olympics. I think he was the best player in the world over a couple of years. And 2016 was looking like back to back Hart seasons and then of course he got hurt. At his best he was like Sandy Koufax - unhittable. Unfortunately terrible teams and injuries limited what he could do.

He will never be close to Crosby’s career. But that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t just as good over his short peak.

The was a series of polls on best player in the league year by year a little while ago and Price came out on top one season and pretty close in a few others. People forget how bad those teams were without him. Look at the 15-16 season. We were unbeatable until he got hurt - then we dropped to last place everywhere without him. Very few players have that kind of impact on a team.

For those who think he doesn’t belong because he didn’t win a cup, I disagree. I think it’s silly to punish a player because he was stuck with an idiot GM. He did absolutely everything but win a cup. And he holds several records for us. He’s well worthy of inclusion.

As is, he’s a HOFer and an all time great. But he could’ve challenged to be among the best players ever. He was that good. Unfortunately that will always be a ‘coulda been’ question. As is, though he was still incredible and I think worthy of jersey retirement. Nobody else should wear 31 again. Just wouldn’t be right.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

2014-2017 he was clearly the best player on the planet.

I agree with this. Yeah there are injuries in there but when healthy he was the best player on the planet.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Besides 71 and 93 for Dryden and Roy, price probably outperforms them if given any team they were on. I'm a Yankees fan. Aaron judge is clearly a better player than Derek Jeter was. But Jeter has all the rings and judge doesn't. But if judge continues to do what he's doing even with the yankees history (which rivals the Habs), I just don't see how you don't retire his number 99.

I think Price meant more to the era he was in than Dryden did for his. It would also be weird if Price gets into the hockey Hall of Fame 1st ballot and everyone recognizes him as top 10 all time most proficient but the Habs are like, "nah you just don't cut it Carey"

If he had the protection of those teams he’d have had a long career and won multiple cups. No doubt about it.

Also, Dryden and Roy don’t win cups on those Price clubs. They had teams he could only dream of. The moment Roy’s teams started going downhill he bolted. Otherwise he’d have retired with two cups and had crappy numbers to go with it.

Dryden and Roy had better careers and deserve all the kudos they got. But flip the teams and Price is the guy with the cups and they’re on the outside looking in.

 

[BLONG7]

I’d say for a brief period you could argue he was the best player in the game. He just couldn’t stay healthy.

People talk about his 2014-15 season and for good reason. But the 13-14 season was probably the best I’ve ever seen. He was superhuman that year especially after the Olympics. I think he was the best player in the world over a couple of years. And 2016 was looking like back to back Hart seasons and then of course he got hurt. At his best he was like Sandy Koufax - unhittable. Unfortunately terrible teams and injuries limited what he could do.

He will never be close to Crosby’s career. But that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t just as good over his short peak.

The was a series of polls on best player in the league year by year a little while ago and Price came out on top one season and pretty close in a few others. People forget how bad those teams were without him. Look at the 15-16 season. We were unbeatable until he got hurt - then we dropped to last place everywhere without him. Very few players have that kind of impact on a team.

For those who think he doesn’t belong because he didn’t win a cup, I disagree. I think it’s silly to punish a player because he was stuck with an idiot GM. He did absolutely everything but win a cup. And he holds several records for us. He’s well worthy of inclusion.

As is, he’s a HOFer and an all time great. But he could’ve challenged to be among the best players ever. He was that good. Unfortunately that will always be a ‘coulda been’ question. As is, though he was still incredible and I think worthy of jersey retirement. Nobody else should wear 31 again. Just wouldn’t be right.

Some of our own fanbase just did not realize and still do not realize how good this guy was, on a horrible team.
When he carried the team, playoffs it was.............when he was injured for lengthy periods, we were bottom feeders......simple as that.

 

[Frankenheimer]

Bad luck got in the way a bit. We were on our way to SCF when Kreider destroyed our dreams. The team was good enough.

 

[Bombshell11]

I agree with this. Yeah there are injuries in there but when healthy he was the best player on the planet.

No? Just no

YOu remember him after the 10.5 mil contract? He was very bad for a tangible amount of time.

 

[Bombshell11]

Some of our own fanbase just did not realize and still do not realize how good this guy was, on a horrible team.
When he carried the team, playoffs it was.............when he was injured for lengthy periods, we were bottom feeders......simple as that.

You cant measure someone's success when they're on bad teams.

kovalchuk for example... not only did he play for a garbage team but his entire thrashers organisation was .... trash.

Hes not even going to the HoF despite him posting top numbers in a low scoring era

 

[GrandBison]

If he had the protection of those teams he’d have had a long career and won multiple cups. No doubt about it.

Also, Dryden and Roy don’t win cups on those Price clubs. They had teams he could only dream of. The moment Roy’s teams started going downhill he bolted. Otherwise he’d have retired with two cups and had crappy numbers to go with it.

Dryden and Roy had better careers and deserve all the kudos they got. But flip the teams and Price is the guy with the cups and they’re on the outside looking in.

But would Dryden and Roy be there if they didn't win a cup? I still think that Price would have win a cup if part of any of the last 10 teams that won the Cup. But that's not an achievement. He's the perfect technical goalie, but that doesn't match the Stanley Cup in my mind. When the players on the ice look up there, they have to know that they need to win it all to be part of those legends.

 

[JianYang]

But would Dryden and Roy be there if they didn't win a cup? I still think that Price would have win a cup if part of any of the last 10 teams that won the Cup. But that's not an achievement. He's the perfect technical goalie, but that doesn't match the Stanley Cup in my mind. When the players on the ice look up there, they have to know that they need to win it all to be part of those legends.

Dryden was arguably the best goaltender of the 70s. The cups represent team strength but it shouldn't diminish dryden's performance.

Also, people tend to forget that he also stole series too. The bruins were an unstoppable force in dryden's first playoff, but he ended up being huge in taking them down.

He showed he can be excellent on either side of the equation.

 

[Beaker]

No

 

[WeThreeKings]

Come on guys the cup or no retirement thing is silly.

Telling me you wouldn't retire Gretzky if he was a Hab and didn't win any cups?

Yeah he had the most career points goals and assists but no cup so no jersey retirement.

There has to be a barometer where the cup win doesn't matter.

 

[StCaufield]

People are still crying today about the Subban trade. There’s a Subban mural in Montreal. His impact is still felt at the Children’s Hospital today. It’s just a fact.

People underestimate what he’s done for First Nations. It’s kind of sad. Price grew the game more than subban in Montreal in my opinion

Nobody’s crying over subban leaving and I mean nobody. Maybe when the trade happened. The trade was a W with Subbans career plummeting into a sewer after

 

[Bombshell11]

Come on guys the cup or no retirement thing is silly.

Telling me you wouldn't retire Gretzky if he was a Hab and didn't win any cups?

Yeah he had the most career points goals and assists but no cup so no jersey retirement.

There has to be a barometer where the cup win doesn't matter.

1 season is not it....

At this point it looks more like your side of the fence is trying to find anything to give it to him and its just exhausting.

You guys sound like used car sales people.

 

[GrandBison]

Dryden was arguably the best goaltender of the 70s. The cups represent team strength but it shouldn't diminish dryden's performance.

Also, people tend to forget that he also stole series too. The bruins were an unstoppable force in dryden's first playoff, but he ended up being huge in taking them down.

He showed he can be excellent on either side of the equation.

People think it was eaisier to win with less teams but it's the same except for salary cap. If it was a matter of statistical probabilities, then why some of those teams are still looking for a first win over the last 50 years.

 

[GrandBison]

Come on guys the cup or no retirement thing is silly.

Telling me you wouldn't retire Gretzky if he was a Hab and didn't win any cups?

Yeah he had the most career points goals and assists but no cup so no jersey retirement.

There has to be a barometer where the cup win doesn't matter.

Why people overlook Marcel Dionne and Pierre Turgeon then?

 

[phillytennis]

Yes, but after Koivu

First, they should retire the jersey of Steve Shutt and Jacques Lemaire.

 

[WeThreeKings]

1 season is not it....

At this point it looks more like your side of the fence is trying to find anything to give it to him and its just exhausting.

You guys sound like used car sales people.

It's not 1 season. He has multiple Canadiens goalies records and is top 3/5 in others. He has longevity and peak and he has multiple playoff runs on bad teams

Why people overlook Marcel Dionne and Pierre Turgeon then?

Dionne had his number retired.

 

[JianYang]

Come on guys the cup or no retirement thing is silly.

Telling me you wouldn't retire Gretzky if he was a Hab and didn't win any cups?

Yeah he had the most career points goals and assists but no cup so no jersey retirement.

There has to be a barometer where the cup win doesn't matter.

Cup or no retirement is a lazy argument for people who want to blame the stars for the lack of cups.

Guess what Mario did in the 80s before he got superstar teammates? Guess what gretzky did after he left that loaded oiler team? That's right, a combined zero cups.

If the two most dangerous forwards of all time are not enough of an example that it still requires a loaded team to win the cup... then the message will never get through. I guess price should be blamed for having desharnais as his top center rather than Jean beliveau.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Not retiring his number is a reason for future players not to want to come here or stay to create a personal legacy for themselves IMO. If the standard is holding players to the unrealistic standards of our 1980’s and earlier success in a 30-32+ league decades later then what’s the point for guys who care about that? Price did everything he could do here individually and from a team standpoint and got us close. It should be a no brainer. Do you think McDavid isn’t in the rafters if he doesn’t win a cup in Edmonton? Price was on that level in his prime for his generation as a goaltender.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

No? Just no

YOu remember him after the 10.5 mil contract? He was very bad for a tangible amount of time.

He went from all world to can’t stop anything. That happened exactly when we tanked the team.

Not coincidence.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

But would Dryden and Roy be there if they didn't win a cup? I still think that Price would have win a cup if part of any of the last 10 teams that won the Cup. But that's not an achievement. He's the perfect technical goalie, but that doesn't match the Stanley Cup in my mind. When the players on the ice look up there, they have to know that they need to win it all to be part of those legends.

It takes a team to win a cup. Those guys were on much better teams.

 

[Bombshell11]

He went from all world to can’t stop anything. That happened exactly when we tanked the team.

Not coincidence.

come on man you be serious...

 

[nhlfan9191]

People think it was eaisier to win with less teams but it's the same except for salary cap. If it was a matter of statistical probabilities, then why some of those teams are still looking for a first win over the last 50 years.

It was easier to win with less teams. That’s not even a debate. Especially when you factor in a salary cap era. Just because teams were incompetent before doesn’t change anything.

 

[Price is Wright]

It would be cool if 29-33 ended up all being retired goalie numbers

29 Dryden
30 Primeau?
31 Price
32
33 Roy

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

is he going in the hof? I dint know hes considered for it...

I dont get your post

The number of MTl fans pushing for HOF, it's like it's done. Every bad team have his Price , Kovalchuck, Dionne, Sundin and Joe Thornton. It happens, great players who never win the Cup. Ovy have been close to be in that party. They get HOF no problem but the question is when they will be offered a milk chocalate fake SC ring in compensation for playing in a bad team and when it will happen. Cuz the fans won't stop there. The difference between Ilyah Kovalchuck and Carey Price is Illyah have 50 fans speaking for him and Carey Price have 4 millions fans/lawyers speaking for him. They were both rare strong talent and they played both in bad teams.