Canadiens’ Carey Price to begin skating soon; uncertain for start of season after knee surgery
Anthony Scultore
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Carey Price, 34, had knee surgery on July 23 in New York, following the Canadiens’ run to the Stanley Cup Final.
Dr. Robert Marx performed the surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery. It was determined there that Price’s hip injury didn’t require an operation, but the estimate at the time was that Price would need 10 to 12 weeks to come back from the knee repair.
In a brand new Q&A with NHL.com and with Dave Stubbs, he provided an update.
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Carey Price to begin skating soon
“I had a torn meniscus, they had to go in there and clean that up.” Price explained. “I’ve been playing with that for a little while now. We wanted to take care of it and now I’m just trying to get back to health again.”
As he continues to rehabilitate his knee, Price notes that he has yet to begin skating.
“I feel pretty good. I haven’t skated yet. I’m just doing my rehab and making sure that I’m ready,” he revealed. “With any type of rehabilitation, you’re never quite sure how long it’s going to take. It’s a process that you take day by day. We’re talking about trying it out soon, but you’ve got to make sure you’re ready to go when the time is right.”
While Price is doing mostly gym work before hitting the ice, the Habs’ doctors and trainers want to ensure that they minimize any risk of him re-injuring himself.
“We had a long conversation with our doctors in Montreal before the operation, assessed the situation, and together we formulated a plan when to have the surgery and plan the rehab after it,” he explains. “There’s a lot of moving parts with our medical staff and our doctors but they all work together to make plans for our health, fitness and recovery.”
Price happy to be staying in Montreal
The Canadiens number 1 netminder has 5 years remaining on a deal that has a hefty $10.5 million cap hit per season. So when he asked the Canadiens to let him waive his no trade clause to be exposed to Seattle it was a bit of a gamble.
He wanted to protect the team from losing valuable backup Jake Allen as it was rumored that Ron Francis was eyeing him. Plus with his salary and injury, he figured the Kraken wouldn’t consider it.
That wasn’t the case as reports started to fly that Seattle was seriously discussing the possibility.
“At the time, when we decided that was the course to take, we didn’t have much concern about moving. Then all the buzz around the draft makes you question that,” Price said. “We knew if it were to happen and we went to Seattle, we would have been close to our family. But we’re thankful to be back.. we’re going to be a Montreal Canadien for the rest of our career.”
Carey’s wife Angela actually detailed the entire situation on her blog and admitted there was some panic. Ultimately, they stayed in Montreal. “Our heart, my heart is with the Canadiens organization,” she said.