Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price's return for the 2015-16 NHL is, per a recent report, very much in doubt. La Presse, citing sources within the Habs' organization, suggests that the chances of Price's return this regular season are "so thin" that no one in the clubhouse really believes it anymore.
UPDATE, 4 p.m.: The Canadiens have responded to the report, with head coach Michel Therrien calling it "speculation."
Price, winner of both the Vezina and Hart Trophy's last year, has appeared in just 12 games for Montreal this season. He's ping-ponged in and out of the lineup with a right knee injury - what La Presse is calling an MCL injury - and now, may very well be finished.
Per La Presse, the "very optimistic scenario" at this point is that Price returns late in the regular season or for the playoffs. Unfortunately, with the way the Habs have been playing, there may be little point. With three wins in a row, the Canadiens currently sit in fifth in the Atlantic, not far out of a playoff spot, but not close enough that a postseason berth can rightly be expected at this point.
Even with those three wins, they're just 4-6-0 in their last 10 games. Bringing Price back and risking re-injury for a last-gasp playoff lunge that may very well prove fruitless seems a questionable decision at best.
Price is likely to avoid surgery, per the report, but La Presse says that diagnosis may not stick. Habs GM Marc Bergevin recently told reporters that Price was likely to miss three to four weeks, but it sounds like that may have been wishful thinking - or marketing.
Interestingly, La Presse's sources believe that there is a "marketing aspect" to the decision by the team and Bergevin to keep hope in Price's return alive. That is a pretty shocking suggestion, considering it essentially means they know that they have little chance without him and that fans would likely tune out the rest of the Canadiens season were they to learn that Price was indeed done.
