The Montreal Gazette reports that the Canadiens have made a contract offer to defenceman Sheldon Souray.

Souray's agent Paul Theofanous, told the Gazette on Wednesday that Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey made the offer on Tuesday, after the club had signed defenceman Andrei Markov to a four-year, $23-million contract.

"We got the offer," he told the paper. "It's May, late May, but it's still early, and we're just going to sit here and evaluate Sheldon's free-agent options over the next couple of weeks."

Theofanous would not divulge the financial terms of the offer. Souray, 30, is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

"The Canadiens have Sheldon's rights until June 30," Theofanous said. "We'll see what (the Canadiens) want to do," he added, without confirming or denying he had made a counter-offer to the team. "I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring."

Souray is coming off a career year with the Canadiens, scoring 26 goals and 64 points. His 19 power play goals set an NHL record for defencemen.

Souray played with a dislocated left shoulder for much of the season, and missed the last 11 minutes of the Canadiens' season-ending 6-5 loss in Toronto on April 7. He had the injury repaired on April 20 and has been rehabilitating