Carey Price: Brodeur's Successor?

Carey Price has seen a lot of criticism during his last two seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. After being drafted 5th overall in 2005, fans automatically thought that he was meant to be the new savior of their franchise.

After leading the Hamilton Bulldogs to the Calder Cup in 2007, Montreal fans could not help but believe that Carey Price would be the one to lead them to the Stanley Cup in the very near future. With that kind of pressure and expectation, it's not at all surprising that this would affect his play.

In the 2007-08 season, Price had a great rookie year going 24-12-3 while posting a 2.56 GAA, .920 Sv % and 3 shutouts. The following season was where his play started to get a little shaky. While he did go 23-16-10, he had a 2.83 GAA, .905 Sv %, and 1 shutout and also could not make that clutch save when the team needed causing Canadiens' fans to start getting irritated with his inconsistent play and constantly boo him off the ice.

This past season proved to be the worst of Carey Price's young career. He went 13-20-5 while posting a 2.77 GAA, .912 Sv%, and no shutouts. Fans continued to get aggravated with his inconsistent play which gave Jacques Martin no choice but to give Jaroslav Halak, probably the best backup goaltender in the league, more playing time. This plan did not backfire for the Montreal Canadiens with Halak leading the team into the post-season and, even now, being the sole reason why the Montreal Canadiens are still playing hockey this season.

With the emergence of Jaroslav Halak, and both he and Price being restricted free agents this off-season, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Canadiens shop Carey Price around the league, especially with team's limited cap space this off-season. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if the Canadiens do decide re-sign Price this off-season to a short- term contract, but I do think the best viable option for the Canadiens and Price would be to trade him sometime around draft period.

If I were to look around the league there are quite a few teams that could benefit from acquiring Carey Price. The Edmonton Oilers could certainly use a number one goalie but with Nikolai Khabibulin and a lot of young promising goaltenders in the system, I don't see them jumping ship to land Price.

Another team that could possibly benefit from acquiring Carey Price would be the Ottawa Senators after goaltending became an issue for them this season, although I don't know how likely this would be. I see the Senators giving Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire another shot next season.

Philadelphia is another team that is in need of a starting goaltender next season but with their cap situation, it's hard to determine what they will do.

As it stands now the team with probably the greatest need of a goalie next season would be the Dallas Stars. With Marty Turco most likely leaving the team during free agency this off-season and no promising goalies in the system, this would make Alex Auld their starting goaltender. If Carey Price is made available, I can see the Dallas Stars pursue him hard this off-season.

Although Dallas is probably the team that will land Carey Price if he is traded this off-season, I can't help but speculate on a situation that would greatly benefit both Carey Price and the team that acquires him.

With Martin Brodeur not getting any younger in New Jersey and even showing us this year how he is losing his touch playing in pressure situations in the playoffs and the Olympics, I think it's about time that New Jersey looks for a net minder who can be Brodeur's successor.

Although Brodeur had another amazing regular season and was nominated for the Vezina yet again, he just turned 38 years old and won't be able to continue this level of domination for much longer. Realistically, I think Brodeur only has another two or three seasons left in him and I don't see Yann Danis being a starting goalie anytime soon for the New Jersey Devils. I have no idea what crazy Lou has been doing lately, but as it stands, the Devils have no promising prospects that could replace Brodeur once he retires.

Once Martin Brodeur retires, the New Jersey Devils' franchise will be in a lot of trouble without any goaltenders who could possibly take the starting spot with success. This is why I bring up a whole Carey Price to New Jersey scenario. Price is a good goalie with a lot of potential who was just rushed into the starting role at a really young age. Montreal is probably one of the hardest cities to play hockey in and to face that kind of pressure at such a young age, can really affect your game.

Carey Price just needs a change of scenery and go to a city where he won't automatically be forced to be the number one goalie. Marc-Andre Fleury anyone? He still needs some more time to develop properly and not get criticized by fans for every little thing he does wrong.

By Price being in New Jersey it can allow them to ease him into the starting position by allowing him to play sparingly behind Brodeur, maybe 20-30 games a season. This will also take some of the load off of Brodeur's shoulders but will still let him play around 50-60 games a season. Price would benefit from this by actually being able to develop properly, as well as learning first hand from one of the greatest goalies to ever play the game.

In order to acquire Price from Montreal I think it will take at least a prospect (or solid and cheap roster player) and a second round pick. I'm pretty sure that's what's going to be the minimum asking price for Carey Price this off-season.

I look forward to hearing your opinions and reading your comments.