Carey Price will not be on the ice for the Canadiens alumni game this fall, and it has nothing to do with his health.
The alumni game is set for October 24 in Winnipeg, part of the NHL Heritage Classic weekend.
Fans had been asking for weeks. Was the former Montreal goaltender going to strap on the pads one more time for the alumni crowd?
The answer came Tuesday, straight from his wife.
Angela Price hosted a monthly AMA on her Instagram story and got the question point blank: is Carey playing in the alumni game this year?
Her response left no room for interpretation.
"No, unfortunately not. He wanted to but we have a big family trip this fall and we couldn't make it work," she wrote.
Family trip beats a return to the Bell Centre spotlight
That's a real answer, not a vague dodge. Price wanted in. Life got in the way.
It's a small thing, sure, but it matters to a fanbase that has spent years wondering when they'd see him in a Habs sweater again, even for one night.
The /r/Habs subreddit picked up the story fast, and it spread the way anything Price-related still does in Montreal.
Fifteen thousand views on that Instagram story in under half a day tells you where his stock sits with this fanbase, alumni game or not.
No word yet on whether he'll show up in any other capacity that weekend, ceremonial or otherwise.
For now, the Heritage Classic alumni roster will go on without him, and Habs fans are left wondering if there's another shot at seeing him back on Montreal ice down the line.
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Should the Canadiens push harder to get Carey Price into a future alumni or ceremonial event?
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