NHL Trade Rumors: Habs aren’t shopping P.K. Subban
By Josh Hill
The Montreal Canadiens are shopping P.K. Subban — unless they’re not.
When P.K. Subban flubbed on a high risk play to try and win the Montreal Canadiens a game this week — instead resulting in their demise — the rumor mill went berserk. Michele Therrien called out Subban for the mistake, seemingly reaching a boiling point with his superstar and benching him for his mistake.
This led to reports of trade talks starting up between the Habs and other teams around the NHL.
According to Darren Dreger of TSN, there is no truth to the rumor that Montreal has placed Subban on the trade block.
"He’s not being shopped and the Habs aren’t calling around to see if there’s a market for the $9 million dollar star. And if calls are being received from rival GMs hoping to loot the train wreck that’s the Canadiens’ season, Marc Bergevin isn’t listening."
This is either surprising or not surprising — based on your perspective of the original rumor. Those inside Montreal probably never batted an eye at the rumor that the team was shopping Subban; mostly because it’s a stupid idea. French-Canadians don’t take gruff and have no time to bother with a lame rumor like this.
It is, however, surprising to hear this thwarting of the rumor if you happened into the original rumor this week. It did make a little sense as the Habs and Subban haven’t always harbored the rosiest of relationships and the star had just been benched. Try doing that to an American athlete and see how long it is before he demands a trade.
Montreal trading Subban makes no sense unless they get a superstar player in return. Neither of those scenarios are going to play out.