Former Canadiens Great Praises Young Goalies

While former Montreal Canadiens star Alexei Kovalev is making the headlines by criticizing top prospect Ivan Demidov, former franchise cornerstone Carey Price is spreading joy this holiday season.

Although Price is pretty quiet and generally keeps to himself, he does have an X account. He barely ever uses it, but when Canada fell 3-2 in the shootout to Latvia at the World Junior Championship, he felt the need to post.

Thanks to a fantastic performance by goaltender Linards Feldbergs (55 saves through overtime, followed by a perfect performance in eight shootout rounds), Latvia caused perhaps the biggest upset in tournament history and Price couldn't help but comment.

Of course, he also had some words of encouragement for his country, but the fact he took the time to recognize Feldbergs performance will surely mean a lot to the young goaltender. The 19-year-old currently plays for the Sherbrooke Phoenix in the QMJHL and certainly knows what a great goaltender Price was.

After not posting to his X account for over a year, Price was back at it the next day, once again to comment on a young goaltender's performance. Of course, it was Jakub Dobes' performance that caught his eye yesterday and the winningest netminder in Canadiens history took the time to congratulate the 23-year-old Czech goalie.

To have one of the best goaltender in the team's history congratulate him must have been a special moment for Dobes, but he's already ready to move on to his next challenge.

As for Price, judging by his wife's posts on Instagram, he's enjoying retirement and making the most of it even though he won't be officially retired until the end of next season as his contract ends then. Seeing him commenting on young goaltenders performances does make one wonder if he wouldn't be interested in a coaching job in the future, but I don't see this happening anytime soon.

When he spoke to the media about his inability to keep playing, Price made a point of saying he wants to play an active part in his kids' life and that's hard to do when coaching in the NHL. Never say never though, one day those kids will be all grown up and dad may very well come looking for a new challenge.

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