Habs goalie Carey Price skeptical about NHL return

Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price knows all too well the dangers associated with the COVID19 pandemic.

Recently, Price got a first- hand look when a friend of his mother passed away from the virus.

“At that point I was like: Wow!”, Price said about the Pandemic hitting so close to home. “Watching it on the news and hearing about it is distant until it affects somebody that you care for.”

Price got a little philosophical as he went on to add, “Death is inevitable for all of us. Nobody’s escaping that. So definitely hopefully we can learn from this and prepare as well as we can. I have no doubt that we’re going to have another one of these (pandemics) at some point.”

During the NHL stoppage, which began on March 12th, Price travelled with his wife Angela and two young daughters to Kennewick Wash which is where he not only played his junior hockey with the Tri-City Americans but also met his wife.

Currently, Price has begun to prepare for Phase 3 of the NHL return, by working out in the American’s gym and hitting the ice for some hard practices. Training camps are scheduled to open on Friday, July 10th as teams prepare for a 24 team Return To Play Playoff Format.

Despite wanting to play, Price does have some questions and concerns about the NHL resuming play.

“I have about an equal amount of optimism and pessimism,” Price said. “It’s a very unusual situation; I want the opportunity to be able to play for a Stanley Cup, but I want to be able to continue living life normally. A lot of cases haven’t panned out, for a lot of people, very well. I have friends’ family members who have passed away from COVID-19. It’s nothing to balk at.”

Price also went on to add, “It’s a very serious situation and I don’t think everybody has all the answers, so that’s why I feel that way.”

If the NHL goes ahead with the Return to Play 24 team playoff format, Price said that his wife, who is pregnant with the couple’s third child, would not be travelling with her husband to a hub city where he would be playing. Instead she would stay with the other two children at home.

“There’s still a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Price said. “We have obviously a unique situation right now. The NHL and the NHLPA are trying to make the best of a very difficult situation. So moving forward I’d like to play, we have a lot of questions that need to be answered and a lot of scenarios that need to be covered before I can vote yea or nea.”

Only time will tell whether it’s safe enough for the NHL to go ahead and have the 24 team Return to Play Playoff Format.

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