Canadiens players cool to Subban deal

Teammates not exactly celebrating

BROSSARD, Que. • It wasn’t exactly smiles and high fives in the Montreal Canadiens dressing room on Tuesday over the news that P.K. Subban’s contract dispute had finally ended.

In fact, the mood was surprisingly chilly on a team that started the lockout-delayed NHL regular season 3-1- 0 without the flashy player who was their top defenceman last season.

Subban, 23, signed a twoyear $5.75 million contract Monday night and will rejoin the club Wednesday in Ottawa, although when he will play his first game has yet to be determined.

Veteran rearguard Andrei Markov refused to talk about it, saying “He’s not in the room yet, so let’s talk about it when he’s going to be in the room.”

And Josh Gorges, Subban’s regular defence partner, steered around questions on how he felt.

“To be honest, I’m glad that we don’t have to talk about it any more,” said Gorges. “It’s a non-issue now and we can focus on getting ready to play the games without anything else to think about.”

Asked if he was glad to have Subban back, Gorges said: “Like I said, it’s good that it’s over and done with and it’s settled.

“We don’t have to have these talks in the morning of what-if-this and what-ifthat. It’s over. We can focus on playing hockey.”

Often, when a player signs a contract, there are a flood of congratulatory tweets from teammates, but this time, there were only a couple from players who were not on the team last season.

But it appears he has some work to do with his teammates, even if general manager Marc Bergevin and coach Michel Therrien said they were delighted to have the talented rearguard back in the fold.