Fare Thee Well PK

Well it's all over now. The Habs have done the unthinkable to many and the inevitable to others. PK Subban has been traded for Shea Weber. I think we have to understand this trade from what makes sports tick and that is money. It is also a story of greed and jealousy.

Habs management most notably Marc Bergevin and their head coach Michel Therrien have never been comfortable with PK Subban. There has always been an incompatibility between them and PK's flamboyance and self promotion. Michel Therrien is a lunch pail coach, he prefers grit to flash, high work rate to moments of genius, conservatism to improvisation. Even there this was not the main problem with PK.

The real issue was money. It started when Bergevin made the terrible decision to sign PK to a bridge contract. Anybody who had half a brain in evaluating talent should have realized that this was the time to sign him long term. It would not have cost them 9 million, even 7 million. It would have maybe cost them 5-6 million and a shorter term of 4-5 years. What were the ramifications if they signed him long-term then? The habs would have had a contented player who had incentive to produce year after year. They would have had someone who' s salary was comparable to other signed stars like Pacioretty, Plekanec, Price,  and Markov. Bergevin's heavy handedness and possibly Molson's frugality, knowing that a restricted free agent had little negotiating power, created the scenario that two years later would create an untenable environment.

Two years later, the team and PK were headed to arbitration and undoubtably to UFA status for PK soon after. PK produced big-time the preceding year so he held all the bargaining chips and a chip on his shoulder after the bridge contract. The bridge contract now looked foolish and short-sighted. PK had endeared himself to the fans and was the habs biggest star even bigger than Carey Price. Price possibly a better and more important key to the habs was no self-promoter and a cowboy persona was not really consistent with quebecois culture. The jazzy Subban fit right in. One inconsistency I never understood was that PK had asked for 8.5 million in arbitration and Bergevin countered with 5.5 million. The arbitrator could have negotiated another figure and the likely outcome would have been somewhere in the middle closer to PK's amount. Then after a huge fan outcry came the long term contract and the term. 8 years and 72 million? PK was asking for 8.5 million and they gave him 9? Of course signing long-term probably meant a premium. However, how many teams would have signed PK for 9 million? Comparable defencemen Drew Doughty earns 7 million, and Karlsson earns 6.5 million. Who earns PK money? Well there are mega superstars Toews, Kane, Crosby, Malkin, Getzlaf, Perry and now Stamkos. Stamkos, Getzlaf, and Crosby among others earn less than PK.

We have to question habs management and what seemed to be a total incompetence in their handling of PK's contract negotiations from day one. Even worse we have to imagine how the other stars on the team felt. Pacioretty had signed for peanuts years ago, Price was paid comparable salaries to other goalies, Gallagher signed long term and earns less than half what PK makes. We can also imagine the environment in the dressing room this year as the habs floundered without Price. PK has to take some of the blame in being unable to lead the habs to a higher level even without Price. That is what mega superstars are supposed to do. Yes some will blame Therrien and some will blame Pacioretty and Plekanec etc. I agree they are at fault just as much as PK. However, none of them come close to the money PK makes. 

At the same time as the habs plummeted in the standings, it seems PK became even more omnipresent in his public life stunts. There were also rumblings in the dressing room. I remember seeing something re the Habs 24CH where we saw PK throwing things around in the dressing room to try and incite his teammates and frankly I thought the other players looked uncomfortable. Even though PK had a statistically good year the team did not and he did not become the powerplay specialist we all expected. He lost his touch in scoring goals. The ultimate question became is this team reliant on a missing Carey Price? 

PK is extremely popular with the fanbase and his playing style matched those in club history lore  known as the 'flying frenchmen'. Maybe if we had a younger futuristic coach PK would have been able to play to his strengths. After seeing the exuberant play of Subban his first couple of years driving defenders dizzy and confused with his speed and rushes, we had a coach that put him on a leash and forced him to play conservatively. Subban was still dominant but less creative. 

Now for the trade. I do not understand how we can trade a young defenceman with unlimited potential about to enter his prime for somebody who appeared to show last year that he was losing a step or two. Weber has had an outstanding career no doubt about that but he was unable to lead a fairly good team anywhere in the playoffs. Now at his size, most of us expect a drop-off as he ages. Sports is never certain and others have surprised in their thirties. However, why would the habs risk this? Is it possible not many teams were interested in Subban because of his contract? Yes that is a possibility but then don't make the trade. I proposed on my twitter if they had traded PK and Plekanec for Weber, Ellis, and Neal it would have been more palatable. Ellis is a young dimunitive talented offensive defenceman. Neal is a top six goal scorer. If you are going to trade your franchise player get some players with unknown potential not an aging star. Taylor Hall and Nurse, Pietrangelo and Fabbri, come to mind as semi-decent trades. Habs management blew it again. We now have to say without question that Bergevin is always trading from a position of weakness and gets minimal returns.