By Stevo, AllHabs.net
MONTREAL, QC. — Carey Price just keeps thundering along as he picked up his eighth shutout of the season yesterday, when the Montreal Canadiens skated away with 2 points after rolling over the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 3-0 win.
Just how good a season is Carey Price having? Let’s start by comparing his current stats to those of Patrick Roy’s two best seasons with the Montreal Canadiens.
| Player | Year | GP | Mins | SO | GAA | W | L | T | Sv% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carey Price | 10-11 | 61 | 3620 | 8 | 2.29 | 33 | 22 | 6 | 0.924 |
| Patrick Roy | 91-92 | 67 | 3935* | 5 | 2.36* | 36* | 22 | 8 | 0.914 |
| Patrick Roy | 93-94 | 68* | 3867 | 7* | 2.50 | 35 | 17 | 11 | 0.918 |
* Roy’s career best as a Montreal Canadien.
(GP = games played; Mins = minutes; SO = shutouts; GAA = goals against average; W = wins; L = losses; T = tie/OT loss; Sv% = save percentage)
The point here is not to debate who is the better goaltender between Carey Price and Patrick Roy, not at all, that debate can be kept for after Carey Price retires. However, the statistical comparison still puts things into perspective with regards to the tremendous season Price is having.
With 13 games left to play in the season, Price will undoubtedly start at least nine of them bringing his games played total to 70 or higher, and minutes played to well over 4000.
He already has more shutouts than Roy has ever had in one season with the Canadiens (9 shutouts in 01-02 with the Colorado Avalanche), and if he maintains his current goals against average and save percentage, will also finish with better numbers than Roy ever posted with the Habs.
The biggest achievement however could be the wins column. Carey Price is only three wins away from tying Patrick Roy’s personal record of 36 wins a season with the Canadiens. The record of 42 total wins is held by both Jacques Plante (55-56, 61-62) and Ken Dryden (75-76) and looks to be out of reach.
Price is also two shutouts away from Ken Dryden’s record of ten shutouts in one season as a Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender, but this one as well might be out of reach.
These numbers lead to talks about NHL individual awards, more specifically, the Vezina trophy awarded annually to the top goaltender as voted by the NHL general managers, and the Hart trophy, awarded annually to the league’s most valuable player, selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association in all NHL cities at the end of the regular season.
There are factors that play in the favour of Carey Price:
- The tremendous pressure he had coming into this season.
- The fact many questioned whether he could play with the pressure of being the clear cut number one in Montreal.
- The incredible numbers he has posted that arguably alone places the team in a better position than they should be.
- The staggering amount of injuries the defence in front of him has had to overcome throughout the season.
The competition is fierce however, with goaltenders elsewhere in the league looking as deserving. Quickly names like Tim Thomas, Roberto Luongo and Henrik Lundqvist come to mind.
It’ll definitely be a battle to the end, and whether or not Carey Price is able to win any of these awards remains to be seen. One thing is for certain however, achievement or not, Carey Price has opened a lot of people’s eyes this season and his future looks very promising.
Follow me on Twitter…@stevofarnham
Other articles you should read:
- Canadiens vs Penguins: Price Puts Habs Back on Track (By Rick Stephens)
- When Will Bettman Learn (By CoachK)
- Hockey Fans: Let’s Take Back Our Game (By Rick Stephens)
- Is The Canadiens Monthly Wallpaper Cursed? (By Rookie)
- Meet Guy Carbonneau, Host the Stanley Cup (By Rick Stephens)
(Header graphic: The Canadian Press/AP-Gerry Broome,
article graphic: Rich Lam/Getty Images)