Montreal announced Tuesday that Carey Price is officially joining the Bell Centre's Ring of Honour, with the ceremony set for November 10 when the Canadiens host the Minnesota Wild. It's a fitting one-two punch of hardware weeks in the making: Price gets inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on November 9, then flies home the next day to get honored by the only franchise he ever played for.
The Montreal Canadiens announced Tuesday that the team will honour Carey Price in the Bell Centre’s Ring of Honour during their game against the Minnesota Wild on November 10, one day after his induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame: https://t.co/nChBoh5clX
The Ring of Honour distinction is separate from a full jersey retirement, but it's still Montreal's way of permanently marking Price's spot in franchise history without necessarily pulling No. 31 out of circulation for good. Either way, the timing makes it a full-circle moment for a goalie whose entire pro career happened in one sweater.
The numbers explain why the Canadiens didn't wait long to make this official. Price played all 15 of his NHL seasons in Montreal, appearing in 712 games with a 2.51 goals-against average and a.917 save percentage, and his 361 wins are a franchise record for a Canadiens goaltender. He's a Hart Trophy winner, a Vezina Trophy winner, a Ted Lindsay Award winner, and he picked up the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2022 after battling injuries and personal struggles late in his career -- a run that only made his final chapter in Montreal hit harder for fans who watched him grind through it.
Price also becomes the 62nd member of the Canadiens organization to reach the Hockey Hall of Fame, a number that says everything about the standard this franchise holds itself to. Between Sochi 2014 Olympic gold, a 2007 World Junior title, and a decade-plus as the face of the crease in a hockey-mad market, Price's case wasn't really in question. What's left now is just the ceremony -- and Habs fans circling November 9 and 10 on the calendar for a proper send-off.