"It had been 61 years since an NHL goaltender had been named captain of his team, Vancouver Canucks' Roberto Luongo ending the drought this preseason when he was given, at least figuratively, the C by his club.

So Carey Price thinks it's only a matter of time before he's similarly honoured by the Canadiens.

"Maybe in 10 years," Price joked yesterday after the Canadiens' first post-exhibition practice. "I'm still really young. I look to other guys in this room to be a leader.

"That (Vancouver) situation is definitely unique. If anybody could carry that workload, it would be (Luongo). He's shown throughout his career that he's a great leader."

Price need only look across and up from his dressing-room seat to see the face of Luongo's immediate predecessor as a netminding captain.

Canadiens Hall of Famer Bill Durnan, a six-time Vézina Trophy winner during his seven NHL seasons, wore the C from January to April 1948, upon the retirement of Toe Blake. He gave it to defenceman Émile (Butch) Bouchard the following season.

Now Luongo is wearing the C on his mask, a thumbed nose at the league rule that bars goalies from having the letter stitched on their sweater.

"I'm the goaltender, so I'm going to have to be a partial leader," Price said. "I know guys look at me to see how I'm doing. Body language is a big part of that. I'm not really a guy who's going to stand up in front of a room and be like, 'Yeah, hurrah, let's go, guys.' "

Price is nearing his first season-opening start, which comes Friday in Buffalo. He played his first NHL contest three games into 2007-08 - a 26-save, 3-2 victory in Pittsburgh.

He enjoyed an excellent exhibition season the past couple of weeks, posting a .933 save percentage and 2.09 goals-against average in 230 minutes played over four games.

And he displayed an acrobatic side that comes with his

28-pound offseason weight loss, no longer the junk-food-fuelled goalie who left town last spring. Price danced and pirouetted to block exhibition-game shots that would have beaten him in his doughier form of last year."