The Sharks have acquired veteran goaltender Carey Price.
Well, Price’s contract, that is.
The future Hall of Famer, 38, who hasn’t played since April 2022, had a $10.5 million AAV cap hit for the 2025-26 NHL season, the last year of his contract. The Montreal Canadiens need cap space, while the Sharks do not.
So San Jose acquired Price and his $10.5 million AAV, along with a 2026 fifth-round pick, for prospect Gannon Laroque, whose career has been derailed by injuries.
The Sharks will owe Price just $2 million cash (mostly covered by insurance), after the Canadiens paid the No. 5 overall selection in the 2005 NHL Draft a $5.5 million signing bonus on Sept. 1.
So why would the San Jose Sharks help out the Habs? According to Puckpedia, the Canadiens now have about $4.57 million cap space, while the Sharks still have $9.24 million, even counting the ticketed-for-IR contracts of Price and Logan Couture ($8 million AAV).
In short, San Jose has tons of cap space, and cap space isn’t as valuable as it used to be with a rising salary cap, now $95.5 million and exploding. And Montreal, while they were over the cap with Price, could’ve simply put him back on LTIR, as they’ve done in recent years. But this move gives them more cap flexibility this year and next.
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