The question for Marc Bergevin, the Montreal general manager who might as well be one of those statues outside the building given his paralysis during the Habs’ winter meltdown, is whether the critical fissure is between larger-than-life defenseman P.K. Subban and coach Michel Therrien, or whether it is between the defenseman and his teammates.
That is the issue the dapper GM must address sooner or later. Doesn’t he? Or does he get to play the role of innocent bystander forever?
Carey Price, this; Carey Price, that. Obviously, the season would be different if the reigning Hart/Vezina Trophy winner hadn’t gone down in late November for what appears to be the season. But when Henrik Lundqvist went down last season, the Rangers went 18-4-3 in his absence. Not only didn’t it kill the Rangers, it made them stronger. Price’s absence not only has killed the Canadiens, it has revealed essential weakness throughout the organizational structure.
If the issue is between Subban, whose “selfishness” on the ice would be most welcome in any of the league’s other 29 precincts, and Therrien, the matter’s resolution would appear reasonably straightforward, even if distasteful to Bergevin.
But if the matter is between Subban and his teammates, then the GM is confronted with a far more complex challenge, for if Price is the face of the franchise, Subban is its spirit.
The Spirit of 76.
It is inconceivable Bergevin would trade Subban, who carries a cap hit of $9 million through 2021-22, before the Feb. 29 deadline. Unless the Oilers step up immediately with an offer of Taylor Hall, their 2016 first-rounder and Darnell Nurse, the Canadiens can’t possibly generate the quality of return they would be able to command at the draft.
Trading signature players is risky business. Trading Patrick Roy was a tire fire. Trading Joe Thornton ultimately got Mike O’Connell fired in Boston. But the deals themselves weren’t as much the issue as the manner in which they were effected — quickly within a purposefully limited market that limited the return.
Well, given the choice was between the greatest goaltender in NHL history and a coach named Mario Tremblay, yes, trading Roy was the issue. But Subban is not the greatest defenseman in NHL history, let alone the NHL. Among its grandest personalities, no doubt. Among its most charitably inclined and community minded, without question.
Price’s absence has exposed the Canadiens as pretenders, not contenders. Montreal’s window is not only closed, it is broken. The issue for Bergevin to resolve is whether it can be repaired most effectively by removing Therrien or Subban — whose no-move clause kicks in on July 1 — from the equation.
Or both.
So Claude Lemieux, who famously broke Kris Draper’s face with a check from behind in Game 6 of the vicious 1996 Western finals for which he earned a two-game suspension to start the final round against Florida, will participate in the Colorado-Detroit alumni game at Coors Field on Friday that will precede the outdoor game between the current Avalanche and Red Wings squads the next night.
So will Draper.
“It was an accident,” Lemieux told Slap Shots last week. “My story hasn’t changed from 20 years ago and it never will. That’s the truth.”
Lemieux was at the epicenter of the greatest, meanest rivalry of the post-Original Six Era. There never will be another one like it. This was a literal blood feud between two powerhouses who combined to win five Cups from 1996-2002, and that featured outright hatred that crested in the ’96 series and in the Bloodbath Game in Detroit on March 26, 1997, in which Roy fought Mike Vernon and Darren McCarty pummeled Lemieux among 10 different bouts.
Yet, Lemieux is leaving the visceral emotion behind. Two decades later, it simply will be a skate on the pond. For old time’s sake.
“I’ve always said the same thing: What happened on the ice, it happened on the ice,” he said. “If you attack my family verbally or physically, that’s personal. What happened during those games was not personal.
“Gord Kluzak broke my face in Boston. I never took it personally,” said Lemieux, an essential piece of two of the Devils’ Cup teams and with whom he won the 1995 Conn Smythe. “That’s how I am.
“Kris and I have talked a couple of times since then. We’ve run into each other (Author’s note: not literally) and have had nice chats. I’ve done a few autograph sessions with McCarty,” he said. “So really, it’s not an issue.
“You take the emotion out of it from back then, and at the end of the day, we were all just trying to do what we did best. Kris was a really good player. At the end, everybody is just a good guy.”
Still there is this to ponder: will Dino Ciccarelli, also scheduled to participate, shake Lemieux’s “friggin’ hand” after this game, too?
There is nothing more hysterical than the wailing of Calgary president Brian Burke over the handling and outcome of Dennis Wideman’s appeal to Gary Bettman following a process that, as designed and negotiated by the league owners through the legal muscle of lockouts (plural), is heavily weighted toward the league.
“Rubber-stamped,” the fuming executive categorized the decision in a radio interview after the commissioner upheld the NHL’s original 20-game sentence to the defenseman for plowing over and cross-checking linesman Don Henderson.
No doubt Burke also was shocked to discover the gambling at Rick’s Café.
If the Devils are seeking help up front in the form of a rental, they could do much, much worse than Toronto’s P.A. Parenteau. And Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello might be able to find a match with his old team’s young defenseman Eric Gelinas, whose progress has hit a wall in New Jersey.
Has there been a more perpetual underachiever the past four years than Travis Zajac, the putative top-six center who is in the third season of an eight-year deal at $5.75 million per season, and has recorded 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists) this season after a 25-point 2014-15.
And yes, while the Devils could use more offense from their back end, Zajac’s lack of production is at the core of the reason the team is last overall in goals per game (2.17) after finishing 29th a season ago (2.15).
Finally, we note that Sweden will be conducting its March 2 World Cup roster announcement at the Rangers’ practice rink and will be holding its training camp at Gothenburg, which coincidentally happens to be Henrik Lundqvist’s home town.
Next up: The nation’s capital moving from Stockholm to SoHo.