Price's delayed return damages Canadiens' Cup hopes

The window for the Montreal Canadiens to end the longest Stanley Cup drought in franchise history is closing more and more by the day, yet the team is currently in a holding pattern.

General manager Marc Bergevin announced Thursday that goaltender Carey Price would not be ready to return for at least another 3-4 weeks from a lower-body injury that has kept him out since Nov. 25. The news essentially guaranteed that Bergevin will not be pushing all his chips to the middle of the table to go for the Stanley Cup this season.

Price's return would come far too close to the NHL Trade Deadline on Feb. 29 for Bergevin to know if his most important player, one he called the best player in the world, will be on top of his game and, more important, durable enough to withstand the rigors of an extended run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With that in mind, how could Bergevin go all in and trade valuable future assets for immediate help for a push to the playoffs?

He can't, not with a good conscience.

Bergevin knows very well that the Canadiens cannot hope to win a Stanley Cup without a healthy Price playing at the top of his game. If Price had been able to return immediately after the All-Star break, as coach Michel Therrien previously suggested, it might have given Bergevin enough time to make a determination on his goalie and his team prior to the trade deadline.

But with Price coming back no earlier than Feb. 12, and quite possibly later than that, Bergevin's wiggle room has all but evaporated.

"I'm not going to make a trade unless I feel it will move us forward," Bergevin said. "I'm not ready to sacrifice the Canadiens' future for a short-term solution, or to trade away a young player who will go on to have success somewhere else that we would regret for many years."

But just how long can Bergevin really wait? He doesn't want to throw away the future for a possible run this season, but in a very real sense, the future is now.

In the Canadiens' current situation, they can't afford to essentially waste a season, but that is what the injury to Price is practically forcing Bergevin to do. That is why it is so devastating.

Price is currently in the fourth year of a six-year, $39 million contract with an annual salary-cap charge of $6.5 million, according to war-on-ice.com. Top scorer Max Pacioretty is in the third year of a six-year, $27 million contract that has a cap charge of $4.5 million.

Each is on a club-friendly contract, a situation the Canadiens need to take advantage of by using the cap savings those contracts provide to add pieces around their core group.

Price will be eligible for unrestricted free agency July 1, 2018. That date could be seen as the end of the Canadiens' optimal window to win a Stanley Cup.

Prior to the start of training camp, defenseman P.K. Subban said a certain sense of urgency was needed around the Canadiens this season, and the onus was on the players to force management's hand when the trade deadline came around.

"We've shown that we can be an elite team in the League, and now it's about us stepping forward and taking that next step in development," Subban said at the Canadiens charity golf tournament Sept. 10. "I think it's also about working in a way where management has to make decisions down the stretch on maybe bringing in a guy or two to help us win.

"I know that for me, I'm getting anxious. I don't want to wait another two or three years for people to say now you're a Stanley Cup contender. I want to win one now."

As Subban spoke, Price was holding court with reporters a few feet away. The two cornerstones of the organization were preparing to lead the Canadiens toward that goal of contending for a Stanley Cup.

Now those hopes are all but dashed, at least when it comes to Bergevin making those decisions Subban was referring to down the stretch.

The main message from Bergevin on Thursday appeared to be that this is his team, for better or for worse. He is looking to make improvements but won't mortgage the future to do it.

With that message, the countdown to the end of Price's contract sped up considerably; the Canadiens' window to win a Stanley Cup may be closing just as fast.