CANADIENS ARE MISSING SUBBAN MORE THAN HE’S MISSING THEM
I was in England covering the Wimbledon tennis tournament two summers ago and waiting for a Eugenie Bouchard news conference to start when news broke that Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin had traded P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Shea Weber.
The early reports came on Twitter and members of the Canadian media at Wimbledon first thought it was a joke because Bergevin had insisted less than a week earlier at the NHL Draft that he wasn’t shopping Subban and simply had to answer the phone when other GMs called. When asked at the draft if it was realistic a Subban trade could happen, Bergevin said: “I would say no.”
But when Predators GM David Poile called and offered Weber, Bergevin said yes.
On Friday, Apron Basu of The Athletic reported that the Canadiens had commissioned a report seeking a comparison of Weber and Subban from a hockey analytics provider a month before the trade.
I wrote a column after The Trade from Wimbledon that started this way: Here’s something to ponder in the aftermath of Wednesday night’s blockbuster trade: will the players in the Canadiens locker-room — who obviously had a problem with P.K. Subban — be better now without him, or will the former Norris Trophy winner be better in Nashville without them?
I’ll pick the latter.
I have been wrong before, but this time I was right.
I can already hear the P.K. haters yelling “enough!” — he is definitely a polarizing figure — but I believe there are many more Montrealers who still love P.K. and they will get a chance to show that Saturday when the Predators make their annual trip to the Bell Centre to play the Canadiens (7 p.m., CITY, SN360, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690).
The Predators went to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in franchise history last season with Subban — losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins — and are among the favourites to win the Cup this year, leading the Central Division and owning the fourthbest record in the NHL (32-12-9) through Thursday’s games.
The Canadiens (22-26-6) are all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and rank 27th in the overall NHL standings after being eliminated in the first round last year.
Bergevin acquired Weber — 32 and four years older than Subban — for the present more than for the future. Weber has eight more seasons remaining on his 14-year, US$110-million contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $7.85 million, while Subban has four more years on his eightyear, US$72-million deal with a $9-million cap hit. The present and the future look much brighter for the Predators.
Weber will miss his 22nd straight game Saturday with a foot injury and has 6-10-16 totals in 26 games this season along with a minus-8 rating while averaging 25:20 of ice time.
Subban leads the Predators in scoring with 15-28-43 totals in 53 games and is plus-11 while averaging 24:01 of ice time.
Subban leads all NHL defencemen in goals, ranks third in points and is in contention to win his second Norris Trophy. He has tied his career high in goals and has 10 more points than Max Pacioretty, who leads the Canadiens with 16-17-33 totals. The Canadiens certainly seem to be missing Subban much more than the Predators are missing Weber.
Dealing Subban was the first in a series of moves Bergevin made — or didn’t make — that have resulted in the Canadiens being in the position they are now.
Weber has come as advertised — a solid defensive defenceman with a booming shot — but he doesn’t bring fans out of their seats the way Subban did and the Canadiens still appear to have leadership issues. It will be interesting to see, with Subban in town, if there are any empty seats at the Bell Centre Saturday, something that has become a regular occurrence this season.
Former Canadien Georges Laraque, one of Subban’s friends, probably hit the nail on the head about Subban’s problems in the Habs locker-room when he said the other players didn’t like his big personality and were jealous because of his popularity with fans and his huge contract.
Laraque, who hosts a weekday radio show on 91.9 Sports, also hit the nail on the head about Subban’s problems with Canadiens management when he said Subban was becoming bigger than the team.
“When a guy becomes bigger than the team, they’ve always done that,” Laraque told me about the Canadiens trading Subban and Patrick Roy.
“They don’t like personalities ... they take players like that as a distraction. They want a player that just plays the game and has no personality. In Montreal, you have to fit a certain profile and that’s why they like Carey Price. He doesn’t talk ... he has no personality.
“I’m happy for P.K. in Nashville,” Laraque added. “It would be nice if he won the Cup and brought it back here to Montreal. That’s the only way Canadiens fans are going to see it.”