SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks acquired goalie Carey Price and a 2026 fifth-round pick from the Montreal Canadiens on Friday in exchange for defenseman Gannon Laroque in a win-win for both organizations.
Price, 38, has not played since April 2022, as a debilitating knee injury has ended his remarkable career, which could culminate in his election to the Hockey Hall of Fame as soon as next year.
Price is entering the final year of an eight-year, $84 million deal he signed in July 2017 and carries a $10.5 million cap hit. But he has been on long-term injured reserve each of the last three seasons and will remain on LTIR for the 2025-26 season.
Price received a $5.5 million signing bonus from the Canadiens on September 1 and is now owed just $2 million in salary, which insurance likely covers.
The Sharks get a small sweetener in the form of a draft pick for taking on the rest of Price’s contract, and the Canadiens create some salary cap space for the upcoming season.
The Sharks, per PuckPedia, now have a projected cap hit of roughly $86.3 million, and $9.2 million in projected cap space, for the upcoming season with 23 active players and Price and Logan Couture going on LTIR. The Canadiens now have $4.6 million in projected cap space with 23 active players.
Price’s cap hit should allow the Sharks to stay above this season’s salary cap floor of $70.6 million even if they trade any number of their pending unrestricted free agents.
Players who are slated to become UFAs next season and who have substantial cap hits, include forwards Alexander Wennberg ($5 million) and Jeff Skinner ($3 million), defensemen Nick Leddy and John Klingberg ($4 million each), Mario Ferraro ($3.25 million) and Timothy Liljegren ($3 million) and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic ($2.5 million).
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