With Carey Price out for another month with an injury, Montreal Canadian fans (including me) are quickly losing faith in their team’s ability to rebound from two months of terrible losses after Mike Condon and Ben Scrivens took over the goaltending position. Currently, the Habs are listed at a 23.5% percent chance of making the playoffs. With that, and after seeing Price struggle and grimace in pain while skating in a tracksuit, some people have suggested that the Habs should not let him play for the rest of the season. Not only that, but they have suggested the Habs tank for the rest of the season, as the Buffalo Sabres did last season, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have done for a long time now.
What is “tanking,” you ask? Tanking is when a team, finding they are worse than they expected at the beginning of the season, will deliberately try to lose so that they have a higher chance of getting a good draft pick. The Buffalo Sabres tanked last season, and though they were not able to get first overall pick Connor McDavid, they landed a player just as good on second overall, Jack Eichel. The Toronto Maple Leafs did the same thing, in a futile attempt to try to land the first overall pick, but ended up getting William Nylander at fourth. They are still tanking this year, having traded Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf for virtually nothing. They are probably trying to get a shot at Auston Matthews, and if that doesn’t work (which it probably won’t) they will try to get Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujärvi, or Matthew Tkachuk. Another team that tanked last year was the Arizona Coyotes, and they ended up with Dylan Strome, third overall. The problem with tanking is that it requires a team to let go of their pride and work ethic, and not many teams are willing to do so.
Right now, the Habs are three points out of the playoffs behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have three games in hand. They have no breathing room, because if they don’t win 20 out of 27 games left in the season, they will likely not make the playoffs. And this is barring that the Penguins and New Jersey Devils don’t go on a red-hot streak. It will be difficult without Price, maybe even near-impossible. But if the Habs have the willpower and determination, they could make it. If they play very well, they could get Price back sometime in March and rally to make the playoffs, although I don’t think they will go far.
Another option the Habs have is to sit Price out for the remainder of the season and tank it, building up his energy and strength for next season’s playoff run, and because they would have a top spot in the draft, they would add offensive or defensive ability to their roster, making them an even more legitimate contender for the Cup next season, and could bring the Cup home maybe in the next five to ten years. If they take this option, however, they would be sacrificing their pride, which I don’t think the management in Montreal would be willing to do.
In my opinion, I think the Habs should wait out Price, sit him out for the rest of the season, play him if they make the playoffs, but I think they should make their best push towards the playoffs without him, and towards the Cup if he is back in time for the playoffs.
Sources:
Engels, Eric. "Injured Carey Price Skates with Canadiens' Trainer - Sportsnet.ca." Sportsnet.ca. Rogers Media, 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Gordon, Sean. "No Quick Remedy for What Ails the Montreal Canadiens." The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc., 5 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Manouli, Matthew. "Montreal Canadiens RUMORS: Could Habs Goalie Carey Price Be Out For The Year? (TWEET)." Headlines Global News. HNGN, 06 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Skilton, Ryan. "Tanking Not in the Cards for Habs." The Hockey Writers. The Hockey Writers, 09 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Steele, Franklin. "Canadiens Should Call It a Season - Today's Slapshot." Todays SlapShot. Today's SlapShot, 06 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Stinson, Scott. "Numbers Suggest Canadian NHL Teams Should Consider Tanking for Auston Matthews despite New Draft Lottery System." National Post. National Post, 4 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Szporer, Ryan. "Montreal Canadiens: To Tank or Not to Tank." The Hockey Writers. The Hockey Writers, 19 Jan. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
