Goalie Price signs 8-year deal with Habs

Carey Price, considered the best goaltender in the world, signed an eight-year extension with the Canadiens that means he’ll likely finish his career in Montreal.

Price’s extension, which reportedly pays him $10.5 million a year from 2018-19 through 2025-26, solidifies the most important position in the sport long-term in one of the league’s most fervent markets. Price won the Hart Trophy as MVP and Vezina Trophy as the top goalie in 2014-15 and has the third-best save percentage of any active goaltender since entering the league in 2007-08.

Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin didn’t hesitate in calling Price his “franchise player.”

“I have enough experience to deal with anything that being a goaltender for the Canadiens can throw at me,” Price said. “I never thought about putting on another uniform. I just thought it’d be too weird, I guess.”

Also, the Washington Capitals re-signed center Evgeny Kuznetsov to a $62.4 million, eight-year deal. Kuznetsov will count $7.8 million against the salary cap through the 2024-25 season. The team cleared salary-cap space by trading forward Marcus Johansson to New Jersey for 2018 secondand third-round picks.

Dealing Johansson, who was the Capitals’ third-leading scorer with 24 goals last season, cleared about $4.58 million in salary-cap space.

“We’re not getting Marcus Johansson without them having a cap issue,” New Jersey GM Ray Shero said. “There’s a salary cap. And if there wasn’t, I’m pretty sure Marcus would still be in Washington.”

Kuznetsov, who was a restricted free agent, becomes the second-highest-paid player for Washington behind captain Alex Ovechkin. Kuznetsov’s cap hit surpasses Nicklas Backstrom’s $6.7 million.

Kuznetsov had 19 goals and 40 assists for 59 points last season. In 261 NHL games with the Capitals, he has 53 goals and 129 assists, and he led the team in points in 2015-16.

General manager Brian MacLellan called Kuznetsov a premier center with “tremendous, skill, speed and tenacity needed to win in the NHL.”

After teams spent more than $200 million in the first few hours of free agency Saturday, the league was mostly quiet Sunday, with most of the big names off the board. A few remain, including Montreal’s Andrei Markov and Alexander Radulov, whom Price would like to have back. That’s far from a guarantee. “I spoke to both players and we made offers they chose not to take (in order to) to go on the free-agent market,” Bergevin said. “That’s their right, and I respect that. But at the end of the day, based on what they’re asking for, it would be impossible to bring back both of them.” Briefly: The Vegas Golden Knights acquired center Marcus Kruger from the Blackhawks for future considerations. Cap-strapped Chicago dumped Kruger’s salary of just more than $3 million while giving up a useful player who contributed to winning the Stanley Cup twice . ... Goalie Darcy Kuemper agreed to terms on a one-year, $650,000 deal with the Kings.