Montreal Canadiens trade Carey Price’s contract to San Jose Sharks

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price warms up prior to an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Montreal, Friday, April 15, 2022. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

The Montreal Canadiens have traded the contract of longtime franchise goalie Carey Price to the San Jose Sharks.

The Canadiens will also send a fifth-round draft pick in 2026 to San Jose in the deal announced Friday.

In return, Montreal received minor-league defenceman Gannon Laroque.

Price is entering the final season of an eight-year, US$84-million deal. The contract carries a $10.5-million cap hit, though just $2 million remains in actual salary after he received a $5.5-million signing bonus on Monday.

The Canadiens moved about $4.5 million below the NHL’s salary cap after the trade, according to PuckPedia.

Known for his calm demeanour in net -- and his windmill glove saves -- Price has effectively retired from hockey.

The 38-year-old from Anahim Lake, B.C., hasn’t played a game since backstopping the Canadiens to a 10-2 win in their 2021-22 season finale on April 29, 2022.

That season, he won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy -- as the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey -- after playing only five games due to a nagging knee injury that cut his career short.

Drafted fifth overall by the Canadiens in 2005, Price surpassed Jacques Plante as the winningest netminder in the storied franchise’s history when he recorded his 315th victory on March 12, 2019.

“Always a Hab. Just a teal one for now,” Price posted to X, adding a wink emoji and the Canadiens’ red, white and blue colours.

He finished with a 361-261-79 regular-season record, including 49 shutouts, a .917 save percentage and a 2.51 goals-against average. In the playoffs, he posted a .919 save percentage and 2.39 GAA in 92 games.

Though he never won a Stanley Cup, Price battled through his knee injury to lead the Canadiens to an unexpected appearance in the 2021 final, as Montreal fell in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Price had a banner year in 2014-15, winning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie after registering 44 wins, a .933 save percentage and a 1.96 GAA.

A season earlier, he helped Canada win gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics with a .972 save percentage and just three goals against in five games.

In his first year of eligibility, Price was not named to the loaded 2025 Hockey Hall of Fame class featuring Zdeno Chara, Joe Thornton and Duncan Keith.

Laroque, a fourth-round Sharks draft pick in 2021, split his time between the American Hockey League and ECHL in 2023-24. The 22-year-old from Edmonton did not play a game during the 2024-25 season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2025.