Carey Price reportedly frustrated, foresaw return to the Habs in November

In a press conference this afternoon, Montreal Canadiens goalie coach Éric Raymond reported that Carey Price has been noticeably frustrated by his slow return to play with the team. Price’s progress is currently being hampered by knee rehab following surgery to repair a torn meniscus in July, and while there has reportedly been headway, he remains in the first of four comeback steps. Though the process began in November and got to step three in December, Price had to restart following the Christmas/COVID break.

Raymond was asked specifically about Price’s mood and mental state on and off the ice, given the fact that being in the NHL players assistance program to treat mental health issues was part of the reason he’s been out of the picture (and not speaking to the media) and, as the reporter mentioned, today is Bell Let’s Talk Day. The goalie coach, who said that he hasn’t worked very closely with Price in recent months because the medical team hasn’t given the green light for much ice time, noted that Price wants to play, and that he believed he would have been ready to return as long as two months ago.

“Carey is doing his treatments, he’s training. He’s going in the right direction. He’s a guy who can’t wait to play hockey — he misses it. I felt (there was) frustration. He was hoping for a return two months ago. Now it’s his knee that will tell us.

“He’s working hard, he wants to play hockey and we all hope he will.”

—Éric Raymond

Carey Price:

Poursuit la réhabilitation de son genou en gymnase. Il progresse, mais la date de son retour sur la patinoire n'est pas encore déterminée.

Continues to rehab his knee in the gym. He is making progress, but a date for his return to the ice has yet to be determined.

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 26, 2022

Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme was visibly annoyed when asked about Price by reporters today, deferring updates to the team’s communications VP Chantal Machabée, saying, “it’s not my department” in relation to knee rehab, and closing with, “let’s talk hockey.”

Price has broken his social media silence twice since revealing his struggles with substance use in November, sharing photos on Instagram of him ice-fishing with his daughters earlier this month, and, last night, sharing a story about the news that 93 potential burial sites had been discovered at the site of a former residential school in Williams Lake, B.C.

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