Carey Price's injury revealed

In this file photo, Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price speaks to the media following a work out in full equipment at the team's practice facility in Brossard, Que., Thursday, March 3, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Graham Hughes)

The Canadiens have finally revealed the nature of the injury that sidelined Carey Price for most of the 2015-2016 season.

Price strained an inner ligament in his right knee on Nov. 25, 2015 in a game against the New York Rangers.

The Canadiens said Price injured his Medial Collateral Ligament in his right leg, and was not a candidate for surgery.

This type of injury usually takes six to eight weeks to heal, but Price’s MCL didn’t respond as expected.

“Since the start of this injury, I said that I wouldn't come back unless I was 100 per cent healed and comfortable and having no doubts in my mind, but we ran out of time. It was really close, but at this point of the year with nothing on the line it made more sense to end it now.” he said.

Medical professionals say the MCL can be injured by pressure or an impact to the outside of the knee, such as being hit during a football game.

Someone with an MCL injury will feel like the knee is going to give way when it's put under stress.

Honestly, that was really frustrating for everyone. When you expect a player to be back after six weeks and after eight weeks, not ready, they gave us indications 2-3, another 2-3, and here we are the end of the season and he's not there, but there's nothing that we can do about it,” said coach Michel Therrien.

According to the team's doctors MCL injuries are treated with rest and rehabilitation, and point out that recovering from this type of injury can take a long time for an athlete that puts a lot of stress on his knee, such as a goalie.

"This injury was not the same as the one he suffered earlier this season (October 29th at Edmonton), nor in previous years," said Dr. Vincent Lacroix in a statement.

However Price said that when Chris Kreider smashed into him at the beginning of the 2014 playoffs, his MCL was injured.

The Habs say they aren’t worried about Price’s capacity to heal.

“From our standpoint you can tell he's really close so there's no doubt in our mind that he'll be ready for training camp,” said Therrien.

“As you saw, I was skating around and shooting pucks just like a forward would at six to eight weeks but unfortunately for a goalie, you demand a lot more out of your mcl and I had hurt my mcl before and I felt it at three months in my mind, I had a pretty good idea that that was going to be the case,” added Price.

With only two games left in the 2015-16 season, the Habs said that Price will not play anymore, nor will PK Subban, Mark Barberio, Victor Bartley and Lucas Lessio.

Subban has a neck injury, Barberio is recovering from a concussion, Bartley has a broken foot and an injured groin, while Lessio hurt his right knee.

“Ultimately the doctors said there are three things: You have to be without pain. You have to have all your mobility and you have to be psychologically ready to play and right now all three of those categories just aren't fulfilled yet,” said Subban, who may not even be available for the World Championships in late April.

Like Price, he is not healing as expected.

“I've always looked forward to playing for my country. I've always played for Canada I look forward to going to that tourney, but obviously now sitting 12 games, you're not sure when things are going to turn the corner,” he said.

There are two games left of the Canadiens season.