MONTREAL (AP) -Carey Price and Mikhail Grabovski are on Montreal’s season-opening roster after the Canadiens made three final preseason cuts Monday.
Goalie Jaroslav Halak, forward Maxim Lapierre and defenseman Ryan O’Byrne were assigned to Hamilton of the AHL as Montreal pared its roster to the league limit of 23 players two days prior to Wednesday’s season opener in Carolina.
Price, the Canadiens’ highly regarded goaltending prospect, will back up Cristobal Huet as he continues his rapid progression up the franchise’s depth chart.
Montreal’s fifth choice overall in the 2005 draft, the 20-year-old native of Vancouver won a gold medal with the Canadian national junior team last season before he joined Hamilton and led the Bulldogs to a Calder Cup championship with an MVP performance in the AHL playoffs.
He beat out Halak, who was widely expected to begin the season with the Canadiens after the Slovak rookie’s strong performance late last season nearly led Montreal to a playoff spot after Huet was injured.
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