Carey Price

Carey Price grew up in Anahim Lake, British Columbia — a small community that became part of his story as much as any arena he ever played in. Selected fifth overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2005 NHL Draft, Price went on to spend 15 seasons in the Canadiens crease and became the franchise's all-time leader in wins, with 361. Over 712 career games, he posted a 2.51 goals-against average, a .917 save percentage, and 49 shutouts. He won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player, the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goalie, and the Ted Lindsay Award for most outstanding player as voted by his peers — all in 2015. InGoal Magazine has covered Carey Price in two podcast appearances, seven Pro Reads, two drill breakdowns, and four InGoal articles.

Price was the first goaltender to sit down for InGoal's Pro Reads series, a format in which NHL goalies review their own game footage and walk through their decision-making in detail Pro-Reads: Carey Price on the Penalty Kill vs. New York Rangers. That debut session — recorded at an Eli Wilson Goaltending camp after InGoal approached Price without prior planning — covered a shorthanded situation against the New York Rangers in which two Montreal defenders were caught out of position, leaving Price to manage multiple scoring options simultaneously. What followed was a series of seven Pro Reads in which Price dissected penalty kill reads, save selection against two-person scoring threats, depth management on rush chances, breakaway philosophy, and what he called a "fire drill" scramble from a playoff overtime game Pro-Reads: Carey Price- Situational Awareness and Compete in a “fire drill”.

In that third Pro Read, Price described a high-danger situation that had appeared controlled before breaking down rapidly — Rangers forwards cycling a puck in the corner before a sequence of defensive breakdowns created a 5-alarm play. Price recalled the save, from a playoff game that had taken place roughly three years earlier, in detail while sitting down with InGoal at the Eli Wilson camp. "This is old school," was his first comment when the footage appeared on screen Pro-Reads: Carey Price- Situational Awareness and Compete in a “fire drill”. The InGoal team noted he made a mid-push adjustment at NHL speed that he was able to describe precisely, and that even in the scramble that followed he regained his balance, found the center of the net, and got to his post for the second shot.

His fourth Pro Read focused on a save against Alexander Ovechkin — with the clock under 10 seconds in a tied game — in which Tom Wilson had the puck inside the right face-off circle and Ovechkin loaded up from his trademark one-timer position Carey Price Pro-Read: Stacking the Pads vs. Ovi. Price broke down his choice of depth for that scenario, admitting that his conservative positioning was for reasons he described as the wrong ones, even if the outcome was the right call for the situation. The piece also drew on context from Washington Capitals goaltending coach Scott Murray, who told InGoal that Ovechkin's one-timer carries a ball-hockey-like draw, breaking down and away from the blocker. Ryan Miller described it as "like facing a breaking ball."

By his fifth Pro Read, Price was explaining how the passing options available to an attacking player — specifically whether the passer shot left or right — influenced how much ice he was willing to concede on an even-strength rush Carey Price Pro Reads: Depth decisions and managing traffic off rush. In that sequence against the New York Islanders, a defensive breakdown introduced a screen and a wide-open cross-ice pass option, and Price explained why getting low and wide to find the puck through traffic also loaded him for the push across. In his sixth, covering a 2-on-1 from inside the zone against Colorado, he described why he chose a more conservative depth than he had on a previous rush play and explained his reasoning for reaching over with his blocker hand rather than sprawling forward — recognizing, even in a desperation moment, that he had time to make a more controlled play Carey Price Pro Read. His seventh Pro Read examined a breakaway against Detroit's Tyler Bertuzzi, with Price discussing how he establishes backwards speed early to keep his weight balanced on both edges and avoid getting caught on the wrong edge when the shooter makes his move — and how that philosophy shifts in a shootout Carey Price Pro Read 7 Breakaway positioning and retreat.

Beyond the Pro Reads, Price contributed to InGoal's drill library as a participant in Eli Wilson Goaltending's annual Day with Price camps. InGoal founder David Hutchison first noticed at the 2015 edition of that camp that every time Price recovered from the butterfly during crease movement drills, he kicked out the pad on the side he was recovering to, regardless of the drill combination Carey Price Kickout (Updated 12/19). When asked about it, Price explained: "It's just muscle memory. Whenever you are going that direction it's usually because you've made a save and the rebound is going that way, so most likely you kicked out that leg and typically you are going that direction." Price also participated in a glove drill at the Eli Wilson camp in which goalies randomly move their catching hand around the catching area while a shooter fires at any time, a drill shared with InGoal alongside a version demonstrated by Evgeni Nabokov and Troy Grosenick at the NET360 Goalie Camp in Kelowna Pro Drills: Glove positioning with Nabokov, Grosenick and Price.

Price also appeared on InGoal Radio twice InGoal Radio Episode 31 with Carey PriceInGoal Radio Episode 16 with Carey Price. On the subject of crease movement, Price told young goalies at the Day with Price camp that working hard in practice is how he makes it look easy in games. "That's the foundation of it all," he said of crease patterns. "It's something you work on since you were a little kid, and it doesn't change even when you are an NHL veteran. It's the building blocks of getting into position and getting set for the next shot. The biggest part is making sure you get a good solid push and get square to everything" Carey Price Kickout (Updated 12/19).

Price's influence on other goalies extended well beyond his on-ice work with InGoal. In a 2022 series reflecting on his legacy Reflecting on Carey Price’s LegacyReflecting on Carey Price’s LegacyReflecting on Carey Price’s Legacy, InGoal gathered accounts from a range of NHL goalies who grew up watching and emulating him. Jake Allen, who played alongside Price in Montreal for two seasons, said: "He was the gold standard of goaltending from when he came into the League until his Stanley Cup run. He was a role model for probably 85 percent of the goalies that started out during that era, especially in Canada. He was the goaltender of our country. Everyone wanted to be Carey Price." Devan Dubnyk, who sometimes shared ice with Price during offseasons in Kelowna, said that when asked which skill from another NHL goalie he would most want, his immediate answer was Price's skating: "Price pushes and stops and he's set like he's floating out there. It's a joke."

Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith, a New Hampshire native who grew up a Canadiens fan, described Price as "bar none the most" goalie he watched growing up, and singled out the puck handling: "Everything was clean. Good decision making always." DeSmith also noted that he adopted Price's practice of running the elastic knee strap down to the outside of the calf rather than around the knee Reflecting on Carey Price’s Legacy. Eric Comrie, who skated with Price during the 2012-13 lockout when Price returned to Tri-City — where both players had played junior hockey — said that spending time with Price helped him understand something about how he played: "That's just who he is. His personality was calm and cool and that's just who he was" Reflecting on Carey Price’s Legacy.

CCM launched an entire product line around Price's equipment preferences in 2013, and several modifications he made — including removing the bootstrap connecting the pad to the skate and cutting down stick shafts to improve puck handling — have since become available across brands at retail Reflecting on Carey Price’s Legacy.

Price missed the final 25 games of the 2020-21 regular season before returning for Montreal's run to the Stanley Cup Final. By the fall of 2022, a knee injury had kept him out of the lineup, and InGoal reported at that time that he was holding out hope for a medical "miracle" that would allow him to return Reflecting on Carey Price’s Legacy.