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Habs GM Marc Bergevin teases a huge announcement.
Keystone Press

Habs GM Marc Bergevin teases a huge announcement.

Canadiens looking for a fresh start.

HockeyFeed

HockeyFeed

In a lot of ways the offseason for the Montreal Canadiens organization felt like it was an attempt from the upper echelons of the organization to get a fresh start on what has looked like a disappointing era of Canadians hockey over the past few seasons.

The Canadiens shed a ton of their identity with some rather significant offseason trades from general manager Marc Bergevin. In a lot of ways Bergevin gave his team a face lift, although whether or not the end result will prove to be better than what he had remains to be seen. Bergevin traded one of his core forwards  over the past several years,Alex Galchenyuk ,to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for gritty young forward Max Domi. Domi quickly made an impact in the preseason although whether or not you think that kind of impact was a positive or negative likely depends a great deal on your perspective. 

The biggest change to the franchise however was  the decision to trade the team's captain, winger Max Pacioretty. Pacioretty was unceremoniously shipped off to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for long time Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar and well as forward prospect Nick Suzuki and a 2nd round pick in the 2018 National Hockey League Entry Draft. The move marked a clear change in direction and left a great deal of questions regarding leadership in the Canadiens locker room. 

To be fair here for many years many pundits have held the belief that the true leader in the Canadiens locker room has been goaltender Carey Price, regardless of who has worn the "C" on the ice. Likely due to his status as a goaltender Price has never been called the captain but the fact that he remains on a team that has shed players like Pacioretty and Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban has to count for something. Add to the the fact that he's the highest paid player in team history and you've got a guy who looks a lot like a leader. 

I bring this up because earlier tonight Bergevin himself was asked about the team's current leadership situation, the Canadiens have yet to name a captain following Pacioretty's departure. Bergevin could have chosen to dodge the question, something he is no stranger to, but instead he was rather blunt and to the point and his answer surprised quite a few people.

"There is a big possibility that we will have a captain this year," said Bergevin as per Marc-Antoine Godin of TVA Sports.

So who will it be? The obvious choice would seemingly be Price but either the Canadiens as an organization, or perhaps Price himself, have shown an aversion to putting the captaincy on their goaltender. If it's not Carey Price then you would have to imagine that the captaincy would be headed to the blue line. 

The Canadiens have former Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber under contract, a guy with plenty of experience as a leader and one who is universally respected around the league. Weber is not only a natural leader but he just so happens to be under contract with the Habs organization through the 2025 - 2026 NHL regular season, so you know he's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Who do you think the Canadiens will award the captaincy to? Either of these guys? Or someone else? 

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