Caden Price: Evolving as one of the franchise’s best blueliners

“The points aren’t the main thing, the wins are,” Price said astutely. “We want to get better and better as the end goal is to win. It is nice to see some points go up there, but at the end of the day it is about team success.”

With back-to-back four-point games in wins over Portland and Prince Albert, you would think the Saskatoon resident would have been a shoo-in for WHL Player of the Week honours. Still, the cutoff for the award was Sunday, a day before his four-assist effort in a 7-5 victory over the Raiders.

Not bad for a player who was the 11th d-man chosen in the 2020 WHL Prospects Draft.

“I take pride in my d-zone first,” he said without destination. “I am a defenseman at the end of the day, but I played forward growing up until pee-wee, so I have always had some offense in my game. At the end of the day, I am trying to make the right play and if I can contribute offensively that’s great. I am a two-way defenseman that can transition pucks and help out offensively.”

Price enters the weekend with 128 career points, which is good for 10th spot on the franchise list of top scorers on the blueline. If he equals the 55 points he put up last season, he would move into fourth spot all-time, just behind Tyson Barrie, Burt Henderson and Madison Bowey.

“It is definitely nice to be playing with real good players,” he added. “Everybody wants to be surrounded by good players on a good team. When we are going, it is fun to be controlling the puck. Whether we are up a goal or down a goal, we are trying to stay level headed and go to work no matter what the scoreboard says.”

Hockey Canada isn’t turning a blind eye to Price’s early season success. They want to see an older player be consistent, determined, make smart plays whether with the puck or without it.

“To be honest, it is going to be my defensive game that would earn me an invite,” Price said astutely about possibly being invited to Hockey Canada’s main camp in December for a shot of playing at the world juniors in Ottawa. “There are going to be a lot of point production guys [defensemen] on that team, and if you just get the puck into the forwards hands on a team like that, they can do the work down there.”

That is where Price’s ability to analyze and scrutinize his own play is so important. The third-round draft pick of the Seattle Kraken is well aware that he has essentially 17 regular season games to showcase himself before the 30-man preliminary roster is announced in early December.

“I need to play hard defensively. I need to close plays quick. I need to box [opposition players] out, and neutral zone defending are important to me to earn that invite. I have been watching that tournament my whole life.”

Now instead of watching it at Christmas, Price would love nothing more than to play in it.

“I want to continue to improve my game,” Price said about wanting to be the best version of himself on the ice. “Just getting back to pucks quicker, play hard in my d-zone and separating the man from the puck. Stick positioning is huge too.”

It has been suggested that had 20-year-old Max Graham not returned from the NHL training camp of the New Jersey Devils, Price would have been named Kelowna Rockets captain, yet instead wears an ‘A’ on his jersey with pride as a star-studded leadership group that also consists of Tij Iginla and Andrew Cristall.

“No matter who we play, our group has a chance to win,” Price said confidently.

“It isn’t an easy league. Whoever wants it more is probably going to come out on top no matter what the skill level.”

by Regan Bartel

Caden Price: Evolving as one of the franchise’s best blueliners

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