Carey Price breaks the hearts of Habs fans this morning

Montreal Canadiens legend Carey Price all but confirmed today that he will not be returning to professional hockey anytime soon.

The 36 year old goaltender was asked about the condition of his chronically injured knee and if he has hope to resume his NHL career and... well... Habs fans may not like his response.

"When I do certain things on a consistent basis, it's a very solid reminder that my knee is not a position to take the brunt of a full season's workload."

"I feel like I could go out there at this training camp and make the team but then I play in a softball tournament and my knee swells up for 2 weeks and I'm like 'OK, a full burden of a season's load, it's not going to cut it.' It's just not going to happen."

Carey Price

Price, of course, is still signed to a monster contract that pays him $10.5 million per season for the next three seasons. So... that leads to the next question. Could the Habs end up 'weaponizing' Price's contract and shipping him to a team that needs to add some salary for cap reasons? Sure, they could. And, in fact, Price himself endorsed such a move.

Again from Price:

"Everyone knows hockey is a business- money management & cap space is part of that; I'm going to be a Montreal Canadien for the rest of my life and I'm very proud of that so I'm willing to help this team in any aspect."

- Carey Price

The idea of seeing Price on another team's roster (Team Canada aside) seems just too strange to me, but let's not forget that Shea Weber is technically a member of the Arizona Coyotes for the next three seasons. Could the Habs pull a similar move with Price? Stay tuned.