On July 30 and 31, 2005, the NHL held its draft. It was initially scheduled for June 25th, but the lockout messed up the schedule. After the draft lottery was held on July 22, the drafting order was known, and the Pittsburgh Penguins won the privilege of drafting Sidney Crosby, a move that would change the fate of the franchise. As for the Montreal Canadiens, they won the fifth pick.

With Crosby, Bobby Ryan, Jack Johnson, and Benoit Pouliot off the board, the Canadiens elected to select Carey Price with the fifth overall pick. The move would turn out to be franchise-altering as well. The goaltender became the face of the team for 15 years and became the winningest netminder in the storied franchise's history with 361 wins.

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The Canadiens made the playoffs in 10 of the 15 years in which Price tended net for them, despite their lack of firepower. While Price was unable to lead them to the ultimate prize, he had the talent and the skills necessary to do it if only he had been given a better supporting cast.

Some blame Price for signing a contract that eats up too much of the cap, but the truth of the matter is, anyone would have done the same. Management offered the 84-million contract for eight years and then proceeded to invest much of its remaining money on the blueline. Marc Bergevin preferred a defense corps with big, punishing defensemen, and he was willing to invest heavily to achieve that.

The ”you just have to make the playoffs and then anything can happen” formula didn’t work, and it shouldn’t have been a shock to anyone. Generally speaking, the Stanley Cup champions don’t just sneak into the playoffs and luck out into a Championship.

It takes careful planning to reach the highest of heights in the NHL, and one has to wonder what would have happened had Price been playing for the current management team, with much more offensive power up front. It could have happened had injuries not ended his career early, but it just wasn’t to be.

Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

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