The Montreal Canadiens are captain-less no more.
On Friday, the club named winger Max Pacioretty the 29th captain in franchise history, filling the void after playing the ’14-15 campaign with four alternates.
Pacioretty, 26, inherits the role from Brian Gionta, who wore the “C” for four years before signing in Buffalo last summer. Like Gionta, Pacioretty is American, making him the third U.S.-born captain in Canadiens’ history (Chris Chelios is the other).
That Montreal chose Pacioretty as captain doesn’t come as a huge surprise. The Habs confirmed the decision was made by a team-wide vote, and Pacioretty is highly regarded within the room, having won the Masterton trophy in 2012 after recovering a fractured vertebra on a hit from Boston’s Zdeno Chara.
He’s also led the team in goals in each of the last four seasons.
As for alternate captains, Montreal will haTve four of them this year -- Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec, P.K. Subban and Brendan Gallagher.
Markov, Plekanec and Subban all retain their “A’s” from last season.