It is no secret that playing hockey in a Canadian market can be a rather difficult task and as tough as a place like Edmonton can be on members of the Oilers, nothing is quite comparable to playing with the Montreal Canadiens. Not surprisingly, the Habs continued spiral down the NHL standings has led to numerous rumours and speculation but nothing has come close to the silliness surrounding one P.K. Subban over the last couple of days.
Did the rounds to find out if Subban is on the market. One team executive said "his name has come up". @TVASports
— Louis Jean (@LouisJeanTVAS) February 19, 2016
While anyone in their right mind could tell you the flamboyant blueliner is not the issue with what we has happened to Michel Therrien’s squad over the past three months, we have had the misfortune of being inundated with one ridiculous trade scenario after another involving the former Norris Trophy winner. Unfortunately, we have had to deal with more than a few when it comes to the Oilers and Mr. Subban…and it needs to stop.
[Related Article: NHL Continues to Underutilize P.K. Subban]
Trading Subban Would Make Little Sense
First off, if you are buying into the supposed rumour that the Canadiens are actually “gauging the market” on the value of Subban you may want to take a step back and give your head a shake. Show me a team that would trade away their best player, and I will show you a team that is going nowhere real fast. Obviously, when you combine a market like Montreal with a team playing as poorly as this one and the time of year being what it is, seeing storylines like this pop up in the mainstream media is no real shock.
[Related Article: The Oilers Are Who We Thought They Were]
With that said, the chances of Marc Bergevin moving Subban are so minuscule it is not even worth discussing. For the Oilers to even consider making such a deal, they would have to overpay so badly it would frankly do more damage than good. Yes, Edmonton needs to improve their backend and would love nothing more than to add a talented all-around player like the 26-year old Toronto native but it is never going to happen. So why even go there?
The Cost Would Be Astronomical
Let’s not forget Montreal just signed this guy to an 8-year extension with a $9 million cap hit for a reason…he is a damn good at what he does and the organization decided to build their franchise around him and Carey Price. As we all know, acquiring a legitimate No. 1 defenceman via the trade market is next to impossible and the reason for that is because there are so few of them. Whether you are a fan of the player or not, there is no denying how good Subban is.
Subban rumours out of Montreal remind me of Taylor Hall rumours out of Edmonton in Eakins' last days as Oilers coach. End near for Therrien.
— David Staples (@dstaples) February 19, 2016
Unless Peter Chiarelli loses his mind and decides to rip his roster apart for one player, albeit for one as special as P.K. Subban, this is not even worth discussing. So for those of you partaking in this non-sense, does us all a big favour and stop the madness. Instead of living in some sort of dreamland maybe try to enjoy the final 23 games on the Edmonton Oilers schedule and hope for the best in 2016-17 because that is reality of the situation.
