Habs brass to attend captain’s golf tournament. Now, normally that wouldn’t be news, but …
MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens felt it necessary on Tuesday to confirm that their top brass will attend the team captain’s charity golf tournament.
Normally, that would be a given, but a report this week said that general manager Marc Bergevin and coach Claude Julien would skip this year’s edition of Max Pacioretty’s tournament, suggesting it was a sign that the team had decided to part ways with their third-year captain.
The Canadiens denied the report and issued a Tweet confirming that management will be there on Aug. 28.
“Canadiens owner Geoff Molson, general manager Marc Bergevin, as well as head coach Claude Julien and his coaching staff, are pleased to confirm their presence at Max Pacioretty’s golf tournament, and are very proud of their captain’s involvement in the community,” it said.
Rumours have run high since December that Bergevin is trying to trade 29-year-old Pacioretty, who is entering the final year on his contract and can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2018-19 season. The speculation peaked at the NHL trade deadline in March and again at the draft in June, but so far Pacioretty remains a Canadien.
The New Canaan, Conn., native spends summers in Montreal and has repeatedly voiced his desire to stay.
A consistent 30-goal scorer, Pacioretty slumped to 17 goals and 37 points in 64 games last season. He said recently he is 100 per cent healed from a knee injury suffered in March.
Preds sign Ellis to eight-year deal
NASHVILLE — Nashville Predators defenceman Ryan Ellis has signed an eight-year deal worth $50 million US that will keep him under contract through the 2026-27 season.
The 27-year-old Ellis will earn $6.25 million annually starting in 2019-20. He has one year remaining on the five-year, $12.5 million contract he signed on Oct. 5, 2014.
The Predators now have three of their top four defencemen (Ellis, P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm) signed through the 2021-22 season.
Roman Josi is signed through 2019-20.
Ellis has spent his entire NHL career with the Predators. He has 55 goals and 118 assists in 396 career regular-season games.
Oilers lose Sekera to Achilles surgery
EDMONTON — Edmonton Oilers defenceman Andrej Sekera will be out indefinitely after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
The Oilers said on Twitter that Sekera was injured during an offseason training session.
Sekera played just 36 games last season after suffering a serious knee injury in the 2016-17 playoffs.
The 32-year-old Slovak was a key puck-mover or Edmonton in the two seasons before his injury, putting up 30 points in 2015-16 and 35 in 2016-17.