Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is expected to miss the entire 2022-23 season because of a knee injury that has not responded well to treatment, general manager Kent Hughes told reporters Thursday.

Hughes added that it's unlikely Price can return to action by just rehabbing his knee and that an operation would be required. The veteran netminder will likely be placed on long-term injured reserve, per Eric Engels of Sportsnet.

Price underwent offseason knee surgery in the summer of 2021 and, while recovering, announced that he had voluntarily entered the NHL and NHLPA's player assistance program in October:

"Over the last few years, I have let myself get to a very dark place and I didn't have the tools to cope with that struggle. I made the decision to enter a residential treatment facility for substance abuse. Things had reached a point that I realized I needed to prioritize my health for both myself and for my family. Asking for help when you need it is what we encourage our kids to do, and it was what I needed to do."

Due to a number of setbacks in his recovery, Price missed all but five games of the 2021-22 season. He went 1-4-0 in his return to the lineup with a 3.63 goals-against average and .878 save percentage.

Since putting pen to paper on an eight-year, $84 million contract in July 2017, Price has not lived up to expectations, posting a 91-86-24 record with a 2.77 GAA, .908 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 203 games, including 200 starts.

Through the first 10 years of his career, he was one of the best in the NHL, posting a 270-175-55 record with a 2.40 GAA, .920 save percentage and 39 shutouts in 509 games (500 starts).

Price also won the 2014-15 Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goaltender, won the 2014-15 Hart Trophy as the MVP and was also selected to the All-Star team in 2014-15. He hasn't finished among the top three in Vezina Trophy voting since the 2016-17 campaign.

The British Columbia native has four more years on his contract with an average annual value of $10.5 million. Placing him on LTIR will give the Canadiens more salary cap flexibility, which is greatly needed following the acquisition of Sean Monahan from the Calgary Flames.

According to CapFriendly, the Habs are currently over the salary cap by $6.1 million.

With Price expected to be sidelined in 2022-23, the Canadiens will have to rely on a combination of Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault in goal.

Allen started 35 games for Montreal last season and posted a 9-20-4 record with a 3.30 GAA and .905 save percentage. Montembeault, meanwhile, started 30 games for the Habs and posted an 8-18-6 record with a 3.77 GAA and .891 save percentage.

Montreal finished the 2021-22 season with a 22-49-11 record and the team isn't expected to compete for a playoff spot this coming season either despite selecting Juraj Slafkovsky first overall in the 2022 NHL draft.

The Montreal Canadiens surprisingly passed on Shane Wright with the first pick in the 2022 NHL draft and instead selected Slovakian forward Juraj Slafkovsky on Thursday at Bell Centre.

Slafkovsky was widely expected to be taken second overall behind Wright, but the Canadiens must have felt the left wing fits their needs more.

He made a name for himself at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, helping lead Slovakia to a historic bronze medal, which was the country's first-ever Olympic medal in men's ice hockey.

The 18-year-old tallied seven goals in seven contests at the Beijing Games, including two goals in the bronze-medal game. His seven goals led the tournament, and he also tied with three other players for the most points with seven.

Slafkovsky also represented Slovakia under-18s at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, finishing with three goals and six assists in five games en route to a silver medal. The left-shot winger played his domestic hockey in the Finnish Liiga for TPS Turku, tallying five goals and five assists in 31 games mostly against older players.

The 6'4", 218-pound forward has the big frame to succeed in the NHL and uses his size and skill to his advantage. He has great puck possession skills and is good on the forecheck.

He could use some work on his skating, decision-making, awareness and positioning, though the Canadiens will surely help him develop those aspects early in his career.

Slafkovsky could enter Montreal's lineup immediately. The team struggled to a 22-49-11 record during the 2021-22 season for the worst finish in the league and could use a player of Slafkovsky's caliber.

Cole Caufield and Jonathan Drouin figure to be Montreal's top two left wingers during the 2022-23 season, so look for Slafkovsky to potentially slot in on the third line alongside Brendan Gallagher and Jake Evans.

Top prospect Shane Wright knows his fate in the 2022 NHL draft is out of his hands.

Wright told reporters Saturday he wants to be selected first overall by the Montreal Canadiens but that they hold all of the cards:

"I have my own opinion on where I believe I should go, but at the end of the day, it's out of my control now. What my opinion is, what I say, what I think, it doesn't matter now. It's in the hands of Montreal and their management. Obviously, I'd like to be the first overall pick. But at the end of the day, it's not my decision."

The 18-year-old posted 32 goals and 62 assists in 63 OHL games with the Kingston Frontenacs in 2021-22. He tallied another 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in 11 playoff appearances.

Not surprisingly, NHL Central Scouting listed Wright as the No. 1 North American skater heading into the draft.

When it comes to the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Wright has some competition from Slovakian forward Juraj Slafkovsky. Slafkovsky helped his national team collect bronze at the 2022 Winter Olympics and finished as the leading goalscorer (seven).

Tabbing Wright as the top selection isn't an open-and-shut case for The Athletic's Corey Pronman.

Pronman wrote that Wright's "hockey sense is among the best in the draft" and called his shot "elite asset and something that can break games open." However, the Canadian "doesn’t have truly elite speed or skill, and isn’t the most physically imposing player either."

Bleacher Report's Lyle Richardson still projected Wright to land in Montreal, writing the Canadiens "will pounce" on a player who addresses their "ongoing need for skilled depth at center."

The Montreal Canadiens have traded defenseman Shea Weber to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for forward Evgenii Dadonov, the team announced Thursday.

General manager Kent Hughes said in a statement:

First of all, I would like to thank Shea for all that he has done for and represented to the Montreal Canadiens. Not only was Shea an exceptional hockey player who played through significant injuries in an attempt to bring the Stanley Cup back to Montreal, he was also a great leader whose leadership will have a positive impact on our team well beyond his time with us. I also want to welcome Evgenii Dadonov to our organization. He is a talented forward who has produced at all levels since the start of his career.

Weber has four years remaining on the 14-year, $110 million deal he signed with the Nashville Predators in July 2012. The Predators traded him to the Canadiens in June 2016 in exchange for P.K. Subban, who now plays for the New Jersey Devils.

Weber had spent the last five seasons of his career in Montreal, tallying 58 goals and 88 assists for 146 points in 275 games. He was named the team's captain in 2018.

Seeing as how Weber has a cap hit of nearly $7.9 million per year over the remaining years of his contract, it's not hard to see why the Canadiens traded him. Montreal finished the 2021-22 season with the worst record in the NHL at 22-49-11, and the Weber trade means that the team is committed to a rebuild.

That said, Dadonov is 33 years old and isn't going to help speed up Montreal's rebuild. However, he provides the Canadiens with more financial flexibility and he has just one year remaining on his contract at $5 million before entering free agency.

The Golden Knights initially tried to trade Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks in March, but the trade was invalidated by the NHL because of a discrepancy in the status of his no-trade clause that prohibited him from being sent to the Ducks.

In 78 games with the Golden Knights during the 2021-22 season, Dadonov tallied 20 goals and 23 assists for 43 points.

While the Canadiens cleared freed up some money by trading Weber, they still have just $1,923,334 in cap space, per CapFriendly. That's not going to be enough to make any significant additions in free agency.

That said, the Canadiens own the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL draft and will be able to select a player to build around for the future. Selecting someone like Shane Wright, Juraj Slafkovsky or Logan Cooley will help put Montreal back on the right path.