Not suggesting #Canadiens will trade Subban. Just saying one team confirmed #Habs are "gauging the market".
— Louis Jean (@LouisJean_TVA) February 19, 2016
OK. The odds are like, 99% in favour of Louis Jean collecting RT's, likes, and getting people talking about TVA Sports. There's no way the Canadiens would be interested in trading away their star player, one they drafted and groomed, and developed through their system. Especially not one who demonstrably cares more about the city more than many life long residents. It's not like they've traded away the cornerstone of the franchise in his prime before.
Well, as long as "before" means "in the past 19 years", because TWENTY years ago they did just that.
On December 2nd, 1995, the Montreal Canadiens were embarrassed 11-1 by the Detroit Red Wings. Roy was in net for 32 minutes of that game and let in 9 goals.
On February 17th, 2016, PK Subban lost and edge, gave up the puck, and Colorado was able to score and beat the Canadiens. Coach Michael Therrien called it "A selfish play that cost us the game tonight".
Roy told Canadiens management that night that he was done.
Subban had yelled at the media earlier this season, about the lack of goal scoring happening with his team.
Now, these two scenarios don't exactly line up, but are we looking at something brewing under the surface that could lead us to similar ends?
Is Therrien making a statement, that he doesn't care for Subban? He's already halted Subban from celebrating with Price after victories, denying them the "triple low five". Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has stated that he believes in Therrien, and what the coach is doing behind the bench. If a GM is steadfast behind his coach, how hard is he standing behind his player?
The Canadiens were taking Subban to arbitration on August 1, 2014, and reports state that no one was happy after talking to each other in the morning. Subban and the Habs worked out an 8 year deal with an AAV of $9,000,000, but how close were the Canadiens to losing Subban?
No one can be blamed for making a deal with the Habs for Subban, but what if they haven't learned from their rich, storied past that's filled with tradition? They gave away Patrick Roy for almost nothing, what harm comes from offering the Habs the same thing now?
The Roy Trade:
To Colorado: Patrick Roy, Mike Keane
To Montreal: Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Ručinský and Andrei Kovalenko.
The Subban Trade:
To: Toronto: PK Subban, Torrey Mitchell
To: Montreal: Jake Gardiner, Frederik Gauthier, Colin Greening
Have we matched it?
Jocelyn Thibault was seen as a future great goalie, but not one that would be on Roy's level. Subban is a fantastic defenseman, Gardiner is great, but not at Subban's level. One bone we throw the Habs here is that Gardiner is locked up on a great contract.
For the rest of the add-ons, we need a forward to match Mike Keane, and Torrey Mitchell has some term at 31 they can live without.
To the Habs we sent Colin Greening, gotta dump some salary, and Frederik Gauthier, a first round drafted Quebecois boy, which is key to any big deal with the Habs, and can make a set with their 2016 draft pick, Julien Gauthier.
The one catch with the Roy trade that we may face here: Would the Habs even deal with the Leafs?
When Roy was on the table, the Leafs were in the Western Conference, and had a much better goalie than Colorado: Felix Potvin. With a goalie of that caliber, and they passed on the Leafs, what hope do they have now?
With the Leafs in the same division as the Habs, playing 4-5 games against each other each season, the chance is non-existent for it to be done.
But aren't dreams what the trade deadline is for?