Canadiens' Therrien: Carey Price 'working extremely hard' at comeback

Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien has refuted a contentious report Friday from La Presse indicating that goaltender Carey Price would not be able to return from injury this season.

"He's working extremely hard, and he's put in a lot of hours to make sure that he's going to make that comeback," Therrien told reporters.

"The fact that he's working extremely hard is not to make sure he's going to look good this summer on the beach; he wants to come back and play for the Montreal Canadiens."

The report, which estimated Price's chances of returning this season were, at best, slim, suggested that not ruling him out is a ploy to maintain interest in the rabid market.

Here's La Presse's Richard Labbe, as translated by Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo's Puck Daddy:

They can't say that publicly, they want to keep any hopes alive, however small. They don't want fans to quit on their team. There is a marketing element to this.

Montreal had 17 wins to four regulation losses when the reigning Hart Trophy winner went down to injury for the second time in late November.

The team is 10-20-2 since.