Report: 7 teams have expressed interest in Tomas Plekanec.

Earlier this week the Montreal Canadiens made a stunning announcement when they held a press conference at which they seemingly announced the end of Tomas Plekanec's career as a professional hockey player. The news caught many off guard largely due to the fact Plekanec had just signed a brand new one year deal with the Canadiens just a few months prior to the announcement, a deal that was worth $2.25 million over the course of the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League season.

The press conference was presented as a joint decision between both the Canadiens and Plekanec's himself and featured both Plekanec as well as Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin. Despite how the Canadiens attempted to present the entire thing however there are now some indications that perhaps Plekanec himself is not entirely on board with putting an end to his career as a professional hockey player. 

For one on Saturday night Plekanec was given a brief mention during the match up between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Montreal Canadiens and when the home crowd at the Bell Centre began to give him a rousing ovation the emotion was plainly written on Plekanec's face. That emotion was particularly notable due to the fact that Plekanec has historically been a very stoic player throughout his NHL career, perhaps a sign that he wasn't all that ready to walk away from the game.

Now a new report from Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports has revealed that Plekanec intends to continue playing in the Czech Republic where he is expected to return as early as next week, and it sounds like there are already a number of offers waiting for him there. According to Lavoie no fewer than 7 teams have reached out to him to make a contract offer, and one has to wonder why he could not have continued to play at the NHL level had their been similar interest in the NHL. 

This is only speculation on my part but if I had to guess the Canadiens approached Plekanec at some point this season while he was being made a healthy scratch and informed him they no longer needed him in the line up. Plekanec has been incredibly loyal to the Habs organization and it was perhaps his own desire not to play for any other NHL team that led to the decision we saw this week.

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