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If #31 is done: should the Habs retire his number?


Should the Habs retire Price’s number?  

16 members have voted

  1. 1. Does #31 belong in the rafters?

    • Yes
      9
    • No
      7


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I’ve long believed that Price - the only truly great Hab since Patrick Roy - would be the first Hab without a Cup ring to get his number retired. The Run of ‘21 solidified this belief in my mind. 

 

I am curious as to how Habsworld feels about it?

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Any other franchise, we're not even having a discussion about this.  I think he should eventually get the nod, but it shouldn't be immediate....the lack of a cup should mean waiting for a team milestone where we really need something to commemorate the occasion.  I don't want to see a 30-ish year hole in the team's history in the rafters.

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I voted no because being in the Montreal rafters is a crazy high standard. 
 

I would not be upset if it happened because Price was our entire team for years and he was a savage last playoffs. 
 

Roy and Dryden both accomplished much more than Price so it’s hard for me to think Price equals them - as good as Price is/was he didn’t carry the Habs to cups like Roy certainly did. 

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If we're going to retire Saku Koivu number one day then we do the same to Price. I think those are the only 2 names I would retire that don't have cup's but have made a big impact in our team's history since the cap era has started. 

 

They both did everything they could to win.

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I voted yes and think it will be yes due to the fact that he has the most wins as a goalie for the franchise. However when I think about Nashville and Pekka Rinne, I don’t necessarily reach the same “obvious” conclusion. Similar careers to one another in the NHL.

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2 hours ago, Habsfan89 said:

If we're going to retire Saku Koivu number one day then we do the same to Price. I think those are the only 2 names I would retire that don't have cup's but have made a big impact in our team's history since the cap era has started. 

 

They both did everything they could to win.

 

Retiring #11 would be a hard NO for me.

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5 hours ago, sbhatt said:

 

Retiring #11 would be a hard NO for me.


Hard no for me as well on Koivu. 
 

Price would be a yes.
 

His play and commitment to the franchise as well as his international success warrants as much. 

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I'm a no ... not a hard, hateful no ... but a no ... at least for now

 

I somewhat agree with sbhatt that if it is to happen it should likely be tied to some other milestone/celebration ... and I will add the caveat that, given the absence of sustained team success (whatever the reason) it should be no sooner than whatever has been the average time between player retirement and number retirement..

 

BUT ... I wonder if it isn't time to add a different honour ... retired numbers go up on red sweaters ... in a separate section of the rafters establish a place for "honored numbers" to be hung on white sweaters ... they could fill out a few years with a couple per season ... my selections would be:

  •  2 - Jacques Laperriere
  •  3 - JC Tremblay
  •  4 - Aurele Joliat
  •  6 - Toe Blake
  • 20 - Pete Mahovilich
  • 21 - Guy Carbonneau
  • 22 - Steve Shutt
  • 26 - Mats Naslund
  • 27 - Frank Mahovilich
  • 30 - Chris Nilan (just because I loved watching him play)
  • 60 - Joe Theodore
  • 79 - Andre Markov
  • 5* - Scotty Bowman ( * - 1973, 1976. 1977, 1978, 1979 )
  • 8* - Toe Blake ( * - 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1968 )
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Price is, what, a six-time all star, Olympic gold medalist, Jennings, two-time Vézina, Hart, Lindsay, and Masterton Trophy Winner. He carried the team on his back for 15 years. Three times, he had a team that was good enough to go deep: in 2014, he would have taken us to the Finals if not for the deliberately inflicted Kreider injury; in 2015, they lost a quarter-final squeaker to TB; and in 2021, he took us to the Finals. That’s three serious teams and two deep runs. The evidence suggests that if you give Price a good team, he will take it as far as it can go.

 

I looove Saku Koivu - in fact I really wish he were connected to the organization somehow, I want him around - but there is no parallel between him and Price. Koivu was a very fine player, a second- or third-tier star at his position: he was maybe the 20th-best C in the league. Price was a top-5 goalie for his entire career.

 

To me, apart from Cup wins, the test of jersey retirement for the Montreal Canadiens is ultimately qualitative: does this name, this player, give you that frisson (that sense of awe, in effect) that comes from genuine greatness? I agree that we should wait a decent interval, but I believe that wait will make us appreciate Price’s greatness more, not less.

 

When I visualize #31 hanging there alongside the other greats, it is not out of place at all. 

 

Carey Price is a Great Montreal Canadien - a special player - and deserves to be recognized as such.

 

The other part of it is - if not Price, then who? Are we really saying that we’ll only retire a great player’s number if his career happens to overlap with a period when the Habs manage to win a Cup? That could take decades.  

 

 

 

 

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I don’t mean to come off a certain type of way to those who say no, but it’s an obvious “yes”. 
 

I will leave two pieces of evidence to rest my case.

 

1) https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/teams/montreal-canadiens-goalies-career-nhl-stats.html


Feel free to sort by wins as well. 

And despite my previous post about Rinne…

 

2) https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/33364704/former-goalie-pekka-rinne-no-35-becomes-first-jersey-retired-nashville-predators?platform=amp

 

 

In regards to 1, his simple longevity with the organization as well as number one in wins does it for me.

 

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Not sure how he doesn’t get his number.  He is sitting at the top of games played and wins by a goalie as a Hab.  The 3 names below him all have their numbers in the rafters.  
 

I see a lot of Koivu references here, and I loved Koivu as a player.  To the best of my knowledge, and I’ve been known to be wrong, Koivu hasn’t set any significant record while in a Canadiens uniform. Price set records on a team with some pretty impressive records.  Koivu was a fan-favourite and a feel good story, coming back from cancer, but outside of that he was just a good player, not a great player.
 

He hasn’t won any cups, but if that was the stick it was being measured against, there would be a lot of numbers retired.  He has won nearly everything else a goalie can win, inside and outside the NHL.

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I think he should get his number retired. It shouldn’t be immediate though.
 

The only guys that had their numbers retired right away were the Richard brothers, Believeau, and Lafleur. Dryden had to wait. Roy had to wait. Even other players that meant more to dynasty teams, and the history of the franchise like Robinson, Gainey, Savard, Cournoyer, boom boom, and Harvey had to wait a long time. Granted those guys had to wait a lot longer than they should have, but as good as Price was, I don’t think he should get his number retired right away. He shouldn’t have to wait as long as most of the habs did - that was ridiculous!  But I think it should be at least after he gets into that HOF.

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Reading that list, I wonder what is the legacy CP31 will leave to the club 

 

Besides individual achievements and honours won away from the Habs: what did he win for the team?

 

I am not bashing him or the organization , just asking : what makes him so deserving at the team level?

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49 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Reading that list, I wonder what is the legacy CP31 will leave to the club 

 

Besides individual achievements and honours won away from the Habs: what did he win for the team?

 

I am not bashing him or the organization , just asking : what makes him so deserving at the team level?

Vezna trophy, William M Jennings trophy, Ted Lindsey trophy, Hart Memorial trophy(1 of 7 goalies to ever win it) and the Bill Masterton trophy.  Carried Montreal to it's first Stanley cup appearance in nearly 2 decades.  Carried the team to 2 different conference finals.  Broke 2 Canadiens goaltending records.

 

Also widely regarded as the best goaltender in the NHL, by media and his peers, for a good portion of his career.

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49 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Reading that list, I wonder what is the legacy CP31 will leave to the club 

 

Besides individual achievements and honours won away from the Habs: what did he win for the team?

 

I am not bashing him or the organization , just asking : what makes him so deserving at the team level?

For being the primary reason this organization wasn’t a Houle era embarrassment. The first year he had to shutdown when the habs spiralled out of the playoffs, and last year when he wasn’t around are indicative of what he meant to this team. Without him we were not a playoff team. With him we had some good seasons and some bubble years. It’s not on him that management was incompetent for most of his tenure. Other than Markov, Subban, Maxpac, Weber, there were no truly elite players, and no legit top line centre. Had some good complementary pieces in Pleks, Gallagher, and Petry, but otherwise it was pretty much bargain shopping from the spare parts bin by MB.

 

having said that, it certainly is easier making a HOF case for him with his international experience and individual awards. His accomplishments are IMO about the same, or slightly below Lundquist (went deeper in the playoffs more frequently), and better than Rinne. I think both of those guys get their numbers retired. The bar can’t be the same as previous dynasty players, but has to be higher than other teams. On any other team, Markov, and Koivu probably have their numbers retired, on the habs, I think Price is the only one you can retire, despite not winning a cup.

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10 minutes ago, TurdBurglar said:

Vezna trophy, William M Jennings trophy, Ted Lindsey trophy, Hart Memorial trophy(1 of 7 goalies to ever win it) and the Bill Masterton trophy.  Carried Montreal to it's first Stanley cup appearance in nearly 2 decades.  Carried the team to 2 different conference finals.  Broke 2 Canadiens goaltending records.

The Hart in itself is not enough - Theodore won one, he arguably also took a much worse team (compared to Price), deeper than it had any business to in the playoffs.

 

but I do agree that he deserves to have his number retired.

 

if you look at a accomplishments team and individual, I think Quick and Fleury had better accomplishments - but they also played on much better and more complete teams. I also think the only modern Haet trophy winning goalie you can really consider among the best players in the game was Hasek. Price was never at that level. 

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1 hour ago, hab29RETIRED said:

 

 

His accomplishments are IMO about the same, or slightly below Lundquist (went deeper in the playoffs more frequently), and better than Rinne. I think both of those guys get their numbers retired.

Posted above but Rinne’s number is already retired.

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4 hours ago, Dalhabs said:

Without Price I think Bergevin wouldve been fired alot earlier.

He saved his job for years.

Is that an argument for or against retiring #31 ?

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4 hours ago, Dalhabs said:

Without Price I think Bergevin wouldve been fired alot earlier.

He saved his job for years.

I disagree... Price has been an average  goalie for most of his regular season play post Chris Kreider... (I HAVE NOT looked at his stats or other goalie stats to verify this claim)

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