Canadiens Could Trade Carey Price’s Contract—Central Div. Team Linked

Carey Price's contract could finally be moved by the Canadiens, with one year remaining

Shea Weber's contract has been off the Montreal Canadiens' books for a few years now... Could Carey Price's be next, with just this one year to go?

According to a report by insider Marco D'Amico in rg.org, "September 1st is the target date for a potential move by Montreal when they can pay off his final signing bonus and get Carey Price's contract off the books."

Price has a $10.5 million cap hit for one final season, but once they pay off his $5.5M signing bonus in 2 1/2 weeks, the contract becomes much more tradeable, and an NHL executive told D'Amico that the Habs are indeed looking to make a move.

The Canadiens are taking a pulse on the NHL trade market and seeing where they fit in. All eyes are on that September 1 date when it comes to Carey Price.

Not only is the money owed to the permanently unavailable goaltender chopped down significantly after that bonus is paid out, but in addition, says D'Amico, "he'll only be owed $2M in actual salary, despite his $10.5M cap hit. And what's more? Of that $2M salary, 60% of it will be covered by insurance.

"That is an extremely attractive and cheap endeavor for a team close to the salary cap floor that knows it will unload major salary throughout the season."

What team could trade for Carey Price's contract?

And what team, exactly, fits that description? According to Tab Bamford in Bleacher Nation, the Chicago Blackhawks, the team that, ironically, also currently has Weber's contract on its books for one final season as well.

As they continue their rebuild, the Hawks will be shedding some veteran contracts throughout the coming season, and could make good use of Price's $10.5M cap hit to get to the salary cap floor.

Bamford notes that the Blackhawks "could have some attractive players to move at the end of February," naming the likes of Jason Dickinson, Connor Murphy, Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, and Nick Foligno.

Chicago is currently $18.6M under the cap limit, but just $6.8M over the cap floor. Once they move out the aforementioned bodies, maintaining the floor of $70.6M could prove difficult, without a big number like Price's $10.5M to plug in there.

It's a situation that very likely is not lost on Canadiens' GM Kent Hughes.