Bob Hartley Singles Out One Player, Blaming Him for Carey Price's Injury Problems
Bob Hartley has not coached in the NHL for six years, but he is still very much in tune with the state of the league. He is two years removed from winning the Gagarin Cup (KHL Championship), and rumor has it he is seeking a return to an NHL bench. Hartley is an animated guy who is not afraid to say what is on his mind, and recently he appeared on a French-speaking radio broadcast and offered his two-cents on Carey Price's injury and went so far as to blame much of the goaltender's woes on one player in specific.
Hartley blames New York Rangers alternate captain Chris Kreider for Price's knee issues, saying he held the star netminder's extraordinary career back. He is not wrong, Price's knee injury was initially sustained when Kreider barreled into the Habs' net, placing the brunt of the impact on Price's lower-half.
Exhibit A:
Eight years later, and the discourse is still red hot over whether or not Emelin caused the collision. Difficult to pin all the blame on Kreider, but there is also no possible way of denying that Chris Kreider has something to do with the fact that Price is still banged up all these years later.
Retired Habs' grinder Brandon Prust had strong words on the matter, suggesting that Kreider has/had a history of skating hard into opposing goalies and that he did not do enough to avoid crashing into the net.
Kreider has evolved his game a little over the years, turning into a 50-goal scorer out of nowhere last season. It is unlikely he does it again, but with the Rangers' deadly powerplay you can't really rule it out.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 9 | 340 ANSWERS Bob Hartley Singles Out One Player, Blaming Him for Carey Price's Injury Problems Is Carey Price's injury Chris Kreider's fault? | ||
| Yes | 210 | 61.8 % |
| No | 130 | 38.2 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Patrick Maroon | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Lukas Reichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Travis Konecny | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Noah Cates | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matvei Michkov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bobby Brink | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Connor Murphy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Travis Sanheim | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Craig Smith | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nolan Allan | - | - | - | |
| Joey Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Emil Andrae | - | - | - | |
| Connor Bedard | - | - | - | |
| Tyler Bertuzzi | - | - | - | |
| T.J. Brodie | - | - | - | |
| Louis Crevier | - | - | - | |
| Jason Dickinson | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||