from Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette,

Canadiens GM Kent Hughes is hoping to wait until the NHL season starts before placing Carey Price back on long-term injured reserve.

Price isn’t expected to ever play again because of a knee injury, but the 36-year-old goalie still has three seasons remaining on his contract with an annual salary-cap hit of US$10.5 million.

Hughes wants to avoid the situation he was in last season when Price was placed on LTIR during the offseason to make room for Sean Monahan after acquiring the veteran forward and his US$6.375-million cap hit from the Calgary Flames in August. Teams are allowed to go over the cap by 10 per cent during the offseason. Once a player is on LTIR, his salary no longer counts against the cap.

“If we put Carey Price on offseason LTI his money’s gone and then we lose the flexibility during the year, which we did last year with all the injuries, and with the recalls and bonus money we get into overages, which carry the cap cost into the following year,” Canadiens GM Kent Hughes said during a video conference last month.

“So with each passing year we’re going to be more and more mindful wherever we can to try not to do that and to preserve Carey,” Hughes continued. “The unfortunate part is if we don’t put him on LTIR until in-season, it’s pretty hard to use $10.5 million of his money in-season. LTI isn’t a perfect situation for any team. I know some people think it’s simple and you just use the money that that player’s salary was occupying, but it’s a little bit more complicated.”

continued