As much as I hate the Habs — and believe me, I do — I can’t hate the humanity that their players at times exhibit. Last year when Corey Perry’s knee unavoidably collided with John Tavares head during the Leafs – Habs first-round and when he took the beating that was delivered to him by Nick Foligno, I felt for him. Just once, I let down that wall and saw that Perry was broken up that his knee injured the Leafs captain. It affected him on a personal level because not only was he not trying to play dirty, he ended up harming one of his pals. Then the Habs made it all the way to the final in what resulted in a kind of feel good story about underdogs battling the giant. Of course, Canadiens GM decided to remind people of one of the reasons why this franchise is so crappy, by drafting a player involved in sexual assault…in the FIRST ROUND.
A couple of days ago, the Canadiens announced that Carey Price would not be ready to start the season. Yesterday, they followed up with a statement that Price will voluntarily take part in the NHL/ NHLPA Player Assistance Program and will be away from the team while he undergoes the program. The program is for those players who need counseling for either mental health or drug and alcohol problems. Each NHL city has specific counselors at the ready. The last high-profile player to complete this was Bobby Ryan back in 2019-20, who sought treatment for alcohol abuse.
The great thing about this program is that it allows players to address their issues while taking a leave of absence from their team, allowing the player to take care of himself and his family without worrying about job performance on the ice. It’s a rare program in the NHL and the major league sports that focuses on the health of the player without stigmatizing them and their problems.
As for Carey Price, he’ll get the care that he needs for what sounds like a mental health issue. Instead of focusing on the negative, his wife Angela put out a statement on Instagram about how lucky they are to be able to use their platform to promote mental health and how Carey is putting his MH first so that the whole family can heal, while teaching their children a lesson in being strong can mean asking for help.
Good luck to Carey and the Price family on their journey of recovery.
Beautiful fall day here! Colors a lil brighter!
This is pretty amusing!
Haha! I thought they looked pretty chilled.
That is genius. I hope the fancy cats keep that up.
Morning all. I really hope we get to a point where the stigma is lifted with athletes and mental health. I see too many comments (I know, I know. Don’t ever read the comments) that just dismiss them as rich, spoiled brats when something like this comes up.
The comments in the hockey world are pretty discouraging – so much testosterone poisoning and self absorbed disregard for players as people. I mean, yes, for several years, they will make 10x your salary and be famous for playing a child’s game, but they do still have lives and families and problems to deal with.
What is normal, anyway?
It’s something I don’t want to be, that’s for sure!
Can anyone be normal when we’re all different?
Interesting segment in the book “The Right Stuff”. After psycholigic testing of the seven Mercury astronauts, it was first thought that these young men were very close to established “norms”. It was later realized that these young men understood what answers were required to appear to be within the “norms”. ;-0
Ha! Reminds me of that film Meet the Applegates.
Apparently in America it was just called The Applegates. There ya go.
I’ll have to check it out!
Morning folks,
Price always seems like a decent fella. It’s a shame for him. Glad he’s getting help.
Carey Price does always come off like a decent guy. God knows what the mental stress of being goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens brings? I can barely deal with my laid back, stripped down life!
Players who cleared waivers this week… Austin Czarnik, Adam Clendening, and Aaron Dell. Dell was worth a shot. Couldn’t be worse than Ullmark, right?
“Couldn’t be worse than \[player X\], right?”
I always assume the alternative could be worse. But Dell might have been interesting. I’m glad we’ve got Swayman., Would have liked to see more of Vladar, but also glad to have a veteran player in the room.
I felt bad for Vladar when he got traded after doing a pretty decent job. I guess with him and Swayman they basically had two iterations of the same player so it made sense to offload one.
Czarnik used to play for us, right? Sounds awful familiar
Yeah, Czarnik was a prospect who wasn’t breaking through. Was in Providence for a while.
Czarnik always seemed on the brink of breaking through. Ain’t easy to make the grade in the NHL… imagine the stress of being on the very edge of being good enough.
Good morning!
Wow! Just goes to show you….. it can look like someone has it all together, but we don’t know what others are dealing with inside. Best wishes, Mr Price.
Prepping for party today!