Carey Price, the defending Hart Trophy winner, the best player on the team, which as of this writing sits first overall in the NHL standings, is an awfully hard player to replace. With injury sidelining him for the next six weeks, the question isn’t whether his absence will hurt the Montreal Canadiens.
The question is: How much it will hurt?
The answer to that question will be dictated for the most part by the play of backup goalie Mike Condon. Shortly after Montreal announced the extent of Price’s injury, the team recalled rookie pro Zach Fucale from the AHL. That decision moves nominal No. 3 goalie Dustin Tokarski to the minors, where he’ll get a chance to get some playing time in.
Habs coach Michel Therrien stressed that it was important to get Tokarski some game action at the minor-league level:
Therrien’s comment about Fucale is suggestive; those aren’t the words of a coach who expects his team’s latest call-up to get a lot of playing time. For the moment, that leaves Condon as the club’s undisputed No. 1 goaltender.
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
How Badly Will Carey Price’s Injury Absence Hurt the Montreal Canadiens?
December 1st, 2015 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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