Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Subban Trade And Reaction

06/30/2016 at 7:17am EDT

from Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette,

It’s time to chill out, take a deep breath, keep things in perspective. After all, we didn’t just vote to leave the EU and hurl an entire continent into chaos.

What happened in Montreal late Wednesday afternoon is that a hockey player was traded. A great hockey player, much loved by a significant portion of the fan base was traded for another great player.

The sad part is why P.K. Subban was traded. He is gone today because the Canadiens always wanted Floyd Patterson — and they got Muhammad Ali. They wanted shy and humble, they got brash and confident. I remember when Subban first showed up at camp as a second-round pick, talking like a cross between Ali and Johnny (the Ordinary Superstar) Rodgers.

Even then, the Canadiens seemed uncomfortable with their young prodigy. And even then, you could sense that, like Ali and Rodgers, Subban was going to walk the walk.

But the Canadiens spent the past six seasons trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. They stuck him with some of the most conservative coaches in the business and when (predictably) it didn’t work out, it was Subban who was gone, not the coach.

In hockey terms, it might work in the short term — but no one wanted to hear that on Wednesday. It was all about P.K. Subban departing for Nashville, not about Shea Weber coming to Montreal.

read on

Habs fans react...

from John Meagher of Hockey Inside/Out,

“I’m livid right now,” said Habs fan Todd Currie while sitting at the bar in McLean’s Pub on Peel St.

“I don’t think another player who comes to Montreal will buy into this city like P.K. Subban did,” Currie said.

“I think he was Montreal. He was from Toronto but he adopted Montreal as his hometown. He did all kinds of philanthropic work. He played with kids on the street. It’s an unbelievable trade in my opinion.”

“Shea Weber is not even the best defencemen in Nashville,” added Currie. “P.K. is a top 5 defenceman in the league. He’s a franchise defenceman. This is ridiculous.”

read on

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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