Carey Price was out for the Montreal Canadiens’ home opener against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. The team announced that he would not be playing due to an upper-body injury, which forced him to miss their first game since 2016.
Carey Price missed his first home opener since 2016. The Montreal Canadiens lost to the Washington Capitals 4-3.
Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens misses his first home opener since 2016.
Sports
For the first time since 2016, the Montreal Canadiens are beginning the season without Carey Price, their starting goalie.
The Habs were defeated 3-1 by the New York Rangers in their home opener – their first game in front of a capacity crowd since 2019. On October 6th, 7 days before the Canadiens’ season began in Toronto against their famous rivals – a game they would lose 2-1 – Price announced his intention to enter the league’s player assistance program in a joint NHL and NHLPA statement.
According to the New York Post, head coach Dominique Ducharme claimed Price was “not doing well right now” during a news conference on Wednesday. Marc Bergevin, the general manager, said the vacation will be at least 30 days long, but that it “may be longer.” After receiving the news on the 6th, the organization, particularly Bergevin, was “caught off guard,” but Price is expected to return before the conclusion of the season.
Price, who had offseason knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus in July, had been exercising and rehabilitating separately from the club and had missed training camp on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Angela Price, Carey’s wife and the unconventional provider of a pocket square for the 2019 NHL Awards, issued a statement to address the situation, posting this Instagram message with Carey and the family: Liv, 4, Millie, 2, and the couple’s newborn son, Lincoln, who will turn a year old in a few days.
“One of the benefits of being in our family’s situation is that we have a public platform to demonstrate that there is and can be a road to light for anybody who is suffering.” Whatever is on the line, we want to convey the significance of prioritizing your mental health not only by saying it, but by showing up and doing the work necessary to improve. Carey is standing up for himself and his family, and he’s making the best choice he can. I’ll keep showing up for him and our kids and seeking out the help I need on any given day. And it’s critical for us to demonstrate to our children that asking for assistance and allowing yourself to be supported by others is not just acceptable, but encouraged – at any time and in any situation.”
To play armchair psychologist for a minute, being a professional athlete is physically and psychologically demanding, and recuperating from major surgery is no exception. The fact that Price is 34 and works in a physically demanding job, where your knees are worked nightly, adds to the mix. That’s a lot to think about. He’s also a hockey player who plays in MONTREAL, the sport’s Mecca. In professional sports, there really isn’t anything comparable in North America; you’d have to go through some European football leagues to find anything comparable. If you aren’t Canadian or don’t follow the NHL, you will have no idea what the Habs go through on a daily basis with the media. In Quebec, the Canadiens are an institution – if not a religion – so dealing with them for 14 years is something that only a few people can endure. Price is carrying an undeniably enormous weight, almost single-handedly, one year after reaching the 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Final for the first time since the league’s most decorated club (24 Cups) won Canada’s last championship in 1993.
Godspeed to the 2014-2015 Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) winner, and best wishes to one of the greatest players to ever put on the leather.
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