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Agent: Habs in ‘serious’ contract talks with captain Gionta

Brian Gionta

Montreal Canadiens right wing Brian Gionta celebrates his first-period goal against the Boston Bruins during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Boston, Thursday, April 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

AP

From NorthJersey.com:

The Canadiens have expressed a desire to re-sign Brian Gionta, who has served as their captain since 2010, and contract talks have picked up in intensity this week.

“We’re just kind of in discussions and the next probably few days will be critical to see (what happens),” [player agent Steve] Bartlett said. “We just kind of got serious about it in the last day or two, so we’ll kind of see what kind of progress we make on that one and whether he becomes a July 1 guy.”

Gionta, 35, just wrapped the last of a five-year, $25 million deal signed with the Habs in 2008. He’s been the team’s captain since 2010 and rebounded well from a twice-torn bicep that limited him to 31 games in 2011-12 and forced him to miss the final three games of Montreal’s ’13 postseason.

This season, Gionta scored 18 goals and 40 points in 81 games, but saw his TOI average dip below 18 minutes for the first time in five years. The captain also chipped in with seven points in 17 playoff games, but managed to score just one goal.

It’ll be curious to see how much Montreal is willing to pay to keep Gionta in the fold. His possession metrics have taken a hit -- 45.4 percent Corsi during the regular season, one of the lower marks among all Habs forwards -- and he’s pretty far removed from his career-high of 48 goals during the 2005-06 campaign.

As for money, Montreal does have available cap space -- around $25 million with 17 players already under contract -- but there are some big-ticket deals that need to get done, specifically ones for P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov and Lars Eller.