Carey Price, Canadiens Agree on 8-Year Contract Extension

The Montreal Canadiens announced Sunday they signed goaltender Carey Price to an eight-year contract extension that will run through the 2025-26 season.

Price was entering the final year of his deal with Montreal, which will pay him $7 million. TVA Sports' Renaud Lavoie reported Price's salary will increase to $10.5 million annually under his extension.

ESPN.com noted Price will be paid $2 million more than Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, making him the highest-paid goalie in the NHL. The report also stated the average value of the deal matches the contracts of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks as the highest in the league.

Price appeared in 62 games last season, averaging 2.23 goals against. He finished third in the Vezina Trophy voting, behind Sergei Bobrovsky and Braden Holtby.

Getting Price's contract taken care of now helps the Canadiens avoid a major headache, since he was almost certainly going to be the best goaltender on the free-agent market this time next summer.

Should the 29-year-old netminder see out the length of his deal with the team, he'll likely own almost every major goaltending category in franchise history. According to Hockey Reference, Price is second all-time in saves (13,855), and he needs only 28 more to catch Patrick Roy. He's also tied for first in save percentage (.920), third in wins (270) and sixth in goals-against average (2.40).