Carey Price Makes Case for the Hart

[RGM81]

by Dave Stubbs, Montreal Gazette
http://www.montrealgazette.com/sport...888/story.html

Price continues to steam along through his remarkable season, Saturday’s eighth shutout the most by a Canadiens goalie since Ken Dryden had 10 in 1976-77, playing behind future Hall of Fame defencemen Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe.
At every turn, Price deflects praise to his teammates and hails coach Jacques Martin’s defensive system that limits opposition scoring chances.

Last week, the goalie said he was paying no attention to talk of his being in the running for the Vézina Trophy, the race for the league’s top goaltender probably a two-man battle now with Boston’s Tim Thomas.
Listen carefully now and you’ll hear reasonable talk of Price even being a candidate for the Hart Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s most valuable player.
With career win No. 93 on Saturday, the 23-year-old moved into 12th spot on his team’s all-time list for goaltending wins, passing Gump Worsley and moving to within 13 victories of 11th-ranked Rogie Vachon.
A nice coincidence, coming 44 years to the day that Worsley was kayoed by a raw egg thrown from a Madison Square Garden balcony, Vachon coming on in relief in the Canadiens’ 2-2 tie with the Rangers.
The eighth shutout doubled Price’s total from his past three seasons combined. And his fourth year as a Canadien could be one for the team record books:
• Price almost surely will catch Gerry McNeil (1950-51 and ’51-52) and Jacques Plante (1961-62) for most games played in a season. Their shared record is 70; Price is at 61 – he’s started 59 – with 13 games remaining.
• With a league-leading 3,620:22 minutes, Price has played 579:38 less (about 9 1/2 games) than the 4,200 of McNeil and Plante.
• Nine more victories and Price will equal the team-record 42 of Plante (1955-56 and ’61-62) and Dryden (1975-76).
• Currently at .924, he could challenge José Theodore’s record save percentage of .931 set in 2001-02 – the season Theodore won the Hart and Vézina.
• And one he’ll miss: even with a shutout in every one of the Canadiens’ final 13 games, Price would fall one short of equalling George Hainsworth’s NHL-record 22 set in the 44 games of 1928-29.

It has truly been a remarkable year for Price. All the questions, all the doubts, all the skeptics...answered, rebuffed, silenced.

[aaron flyers]

im kinda thinking that
games played,minutes are due to the fact the habs dont have much faith in there back up auld
he has 33 wins.....but 22 losses
he has some shutouts 8 ...but 59 starts
he is a vezina candidate...but the hart,i dont think so,i say thomas
has he won a playoff series?
has he been overplayed?
montreal news paper?
just my opinion :)

[RGM81]

The Hart Trophy is awarded to the player deemed most valuable to his team. Without Carey Price, where are the Habs? You can say that to a far greater degree than you can with Thomas in Boston....Rask is a more than adequate backup and indeed could easily be a #1 on the team.

[roy.the.greatest]

With not a skilled roster in front of him, Carey Price is on a perfect team to win the Hart; combined with names like Crosby (injured) or Ovechkin that had better years in the past. Timing is good for Carey.

[edthesandwich]

I could be way off on this, but it feels an awful lot like 2001-02, when Jose Theodore snaked the Hart Trophy in stunning fashion. I say stunning only because a solid case could have been made that Theodore wasn't even the best goalie that season: He finished behind Patrick Roy in wins (32-30), shutouts (9-7) and goals-against average (1.94-2.11). His only saving grace was a .931 save percentage; Roy was next at .925, and the next closest guy was .921. That's a huge gap, and was certainly one of the key reasons why Theodore won.

Fact was, just like with Price this year, Theodore had to be that good or the Habs had no chance of making the playoffs. It was miraculous enough that they did; they had the second-fewest goals of any post-season entrant in '01-'02, and four teams who didn't make the playoffs still scored more goals than Montreal did that year. Jose bailed 'em out that season, much like Price is doing this year. Tim Thomas's numbers are better, but Carey makes more sense if you're going to nominate a goalie for the Hart.

[sholi2000]

Oh the Stories we'll tell if he could win the HART.

[LegendsCollector]

Price has had a great year so far but i would be very surprised if he won the hart. The only comparison i can make is the few years where Ryan Miller carried Buffalo. Price as well as MA Fleury and Rinne have all been far more valuable to their teams this year compared to Thomas but sadly i think that if any goalie is nominated that it will be Thomas.

[TheBoxBreaker]

He's a great goalie with lots of more good seasons in front of him. If he doesn't win it this year, he's most likely going to be a candidate next season.

[RGM81]

Oh the Stories we'll tell if he could win the HART.

All our HI/O "friends" will be served...big time.

With only 13 games left in the regular season I still think he can 40 but if he can get red-hot and push it to 42? No brainer!

[habsheaven]

While I do believe he is a legitimate HART candidate, I am not sure what quoting comparisons to past Habs tenders have to do with it. Frankly, so what? His competition will come from players having great years THIS year. If he can lead the league in wins, post a couple more shutouts and boosts the Habs to Top 4 in the conference he has a chance. Otherwise it may just go to another Sedin twin.