DALLAS — The Avalanche’s leading goal scorer from last season, P.A. Parenteau, will be a healthy scratch Monday night against the Dallas Stars.

That was the biggest news out of the Avs’ morning skate at American Airlines Arena, where Colorado will play a Dallas team that has won three in a row.

The decision by Avs coach Patrick Roy to scratch Parenteau comes down to a couple of factors. The return of Alex Tanguay, who will play Monday, creates a fuller bench than Roy has had in a while. That, and Parenteau may need to regain a bit more strength in his knee after having only recently returned after missing three weeks with an injury to it.

“We (will) have three games in four nights. It’ s a demanding schedule, so we’ll do the same thing with P.A. that we did with Alex,” Roy said.

Parenteau’s name surfaced in some trade rumors earlier in the day, with TVA Sports reporting the Montreal Canadiens are interested in him. Despite signing a four-year, $16 million free-agent contract with the Avs in 2012, Parenteau does not have any no-trade/no-movement clause.

Parenteau scored 18 goals in 48 games last season, but has nine in 41 so far in this one.

The Avs activated backup goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, sending rookie Sami Aittokallio back to Lake Erie of the AHL. Semyon Varlamov will start in net for the Avs, who lost 5-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Adrian Dater: adater@denverpost.com or twitter.com/adater