Habs insist Subban saga isn’t a distraction
Not worried about ‘who’s not here’
For now, it remains his stall in the Canadiens’ Brossard dressing room, even if the nameplate P.K. SUBBAN 76, between the stalls of fellow defencemen Raphael Diaz and Alexei Emelin, has been replaced by a blank.
Subban’s two helmets, home blue and road white, which were atop the stall early in the week, are gone.
The equipment hooks are bare.
Finally, we might be nearing a resolution — one way or another — in the holdout of Subban, with more news expected on Monday.
On Friday, Subban’s agent, Don Meehan, met in Toronto with Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin, who had arrived for the talks from Thursday’s uplifting 4-1 victory in Washington over the Capitals. “P.K. will take weekend to reflect and we will meet P.K. again on Monday,” Meehan advised just before 6 p.m. on Friday.
There wasn’t great concern, preoccupation or much other thought about the Subban situation in the Canadiens dressing room Friday, 11 players having breezed through a noon-hour optional practice.
Taking part were goalie Peter Budaj, defencemen Tomas Kaberle and Yannick Weber, and forwards Erik Cole, Travis Moen, Colby Armstrong, Brandon Prust, Lars Eller, Ryan White, Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher.
“I’m not on Twitter, I couldn’t tell you what’s being said,” first-line winger Cole said of the Internet firestorm that continues to consume Subban’s ongoing absence.
“This isn’t a distraction. This is our group. Until that changes, our mindset doesn’t change. We can’t be worried about who’s not here. We’re all very comfortable with who is.”
In reply to a question about how Subban would be perceived by teammates, should he sign:
“Until he’s here, I can’t answer that question.”
The Canadiens would be a deeper club with Subban in its ranks. That said, the last two games have shown a nicely balanced roster that is subscribing to coach Michel Therrien’s tenets of work ethic, commitment and (mostly) discipline.
The Habs have surely pulled up their socks since last Saturday’s 2-1 seasonopening home-ice loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Backto-back 4-1 victories, at home Tuesday over Florida and in Washington on Thursday, showed strong efforts contributed across the board.
A few highlights, heading into Friday’s action:
Montreal ranked eighth on the power play at 29.4 per cent. Its penalty kill ranked a midpack 13th at 82.4 per cent.
Goaltender Carey Price had a sterling .953 save percentage, with a 1.34 average.
NHL sophomore Raphael Diaz was the league’s top point-scoring defence man, his five points coming in one less game than co-leader Kevin Shattenkirk, of St. Louis.
Andrei Markov was the top goal-scoring blueliner with three goals, all on the power play, in three games. Indeed, Markov’s goal Thursday marked the first time in his 639-game NHL career that he had scored three goals in two consecutive games.
Markov is proving an early season workhorse, his 23:47 average ice time leading fellow veteran Francis Bouillon by 2½ minutes.
The goal by Washington with 2:23 left on the clock, denying Price his 17th career shutout, was the first (and only) even-strength goal the Canadiens have surrendered this season.
Expect no changes to the Habs lineup Sunday for a 6 p.m. Bell Centre start against Habs-killer Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils, which again will leave Eller and Weber the healthy scratches.
“We’re definitely having fun,” Cole said. “It’s a great group in here with lots of general ribbing back and forth. That’s what makes it fun to be part of the team.”
The line of Cole and Max Pacioretty on the wings of centre David Desharnais hasn’t exactly been on fire thus far. The trio has a combined six assists, four to Pacioretty, one each to his mates.
But there are no alarm bells ringing for Cole, who led the Canadiens with a careerhigh 35 goals last year after opening his maiden season in Montreal with no goals and a single assist through his first seven games.
“I don’t think we played very well in the Toronto game. I don’t think anybody was particularly good,” said Cole, who has banked a shot off a goalpost in the past two games. “A lot of rust was showing and it showed how out of sync we were, how much we missed having exhibition games.
“Slowly, we’re creating chances. We’ve had some success on the power play as a group and that helps for sure. If we’re playing hard, doing the right things and creating offence, it doesn’t matter whether we’re cashing in right now or not because we’re winning hockey games.
“If we’re getting opportunities and not finishing them and we’re losing games, then we’ve got a problem.”
As chances come, Cole believes, so will the goals.
“This is a confidence thing from top to bottom,” he said.
“Guys feel good about themselves right now and where they’re at, who they’re playing with. When you have a good power play and very strong penalty kill, that helps also.”
Therrien might dial the intensity up a little from Thursday’s mostly fun skate when he assembles the team Saturday at 11 a.m. in Brossard.