Canadiens in no rush to name captain after Pacioretty trade

LAVAL, Quebec -- The Montreal Canadiens have no urgency to name a captain after Max Pacioretty was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.

Pacioretty, who had been the Canadiens captain since the 2015-16 season, was traded for forward Tomas Tatar, forward prospect Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. The 29-year-old forward had 37 points (17 goals, 20 assists) in 64 games with Montreal last season, missing the final 18 games of the regular season with a knee injury.
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"We'll deal with that in time," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said prior to Montreal's annual golf tournament at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac on Monday. "You want to make the right decision when it comes to that. I think it's very important to have the right person in place."
Julien cited the Toronto Maple Leafs as an example. The Maple Leafs signed former New York Islanders captain John Tavares to a seven-year contract on July 1, but have decided to take a patient approach and begin the season without a captain while they weigh their options.
"Look at the Islander situation, too," Julien said. "I don't think they've named a captain yet with Tavares gone. If they can take the whole summer, I think we can take a little bit of time."
General manager Marc Bergevin said no decision has been made whether to appoint a captain or allow the players to vote for one when the time comes.
"I don't have a timeframe," he said.

When asked what advice he would give a potential candidate, Bergevin said, "If I need to tell a captain how to be a captain, maybe he's not the right guy."
But the trade sparked debate on local Montreal talk shows over who would follow Pacioretty as captain. Defenseman Shea Weber, who was captain of the Nashville Predators from 2010-16, and forward Brendan Gallagher were the favorites among the fans to be next in line.
"In respect to Max, I don't want to deal with that right now," Weber said. "I think that's something the team will deal with in due time. I think they'll make the right choice for the team in the long run.
"It's not easy. It's definitely not easy being a captain anywhere, especially when guys put pressure on themselves to be successful. When a team's not doing well, you take that to heart. And that being a situation I've dealt with before, I know it's not easy."
Gallagher said there are plenty of candidates within the Canadiens locker room to handle the responsibilities.
"If we're going to be successful, I think we're going to need a lot of voices," he said. "Regardless of who's wearing the C, if we even have a C, I think for us as a group, and for us as a core, it's going to be important to have internal competition and internal accountability. That's going to be not just on one guy, but it's going to be on a group of guys to kind of hold the team to that standard."