Cowan: P.K. Subban’s return will give Bell Centre fans something to cheer about

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The Canadiens will be honouring their former Norris Trophy-winning defenceman before Thursday’s game against the Nashville Predators.

P.K. Subban takes part in a pre-game ceremony before the Canadiens’ home opener against the Rangers at the Bell Centre in 2015. Photo by John Kenney /Montreal Gazette Article content

It should be an emotional night at the Bell Centre when the Canadiens honour P.K. Subban before Thursday’s game against the Nashville Predators (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

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A part of Subban will probably be wishing he was suiting up for the Canadiens again instead of being fêted after announcing his retirement from the NHL last September at age 33.

Subban spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Canadiens after former GM Bob Gainey selected him in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2007 NHL draft. Marc Bergevin, who became GM in 2012, was never a fan of Subban and neither was former head coach Michel Therrien. Subban’s big personality also rubbed some of his teammates the wrong way and all that led to the blockbuster trade that sent the 2013 Norris Trophy winner to the Nashville Predators on June 29, 2016, in exchange for Shea Weber.

Fans can argue over who got the best of the trade from a hockey standpoint — the Canadiens and Predators both made it to the Stanley Cup final once after the trade and they both lost — but there’s no doubt it hurt the Canadiens from a PR standpoint and also at the box office. The Canadiens are also fortunate they’re not on the hook for the final four years of Weber’s contract — with an annual salary-cap hit of $7.857 million — that was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights last summer.

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Subban loved everything about playing for the Canadiens. Weber never wanted to be in Montreal and the captain left town without even holding a news conference. During a recent appearance on the Pivot Podcast, Subban said “there was only one place I wanted to play in my career” and that was Montreal after growing up as a Canadiens fan in Toronto.

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Subban had hoped to keep playing after his eight-year, US$72-million contract expired at the end of last season, his third with the New Jersey Devils. When he didn’t get an offer he liked, he decided to retire and take a job as a hockey analyst with ESPN. He is also working as an ambassador for Kraft Hockeyville 2023.

“For me, I definitely wanted to have another opportunity to win a Stanley Cup, but I wasn’t going to do it by being in and out of the lineup at 33 years old when I’m in top, peak condition and I know what I put in every night,” Subban said in a phone interview Tuesday, adding that money wasn’t his priority. “I think about how I was going to be involved in a team … I definitely felt that I deserved to be on a team where I could play every night and be in top-four, top-five minutes.”

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That type of offer never came after Subban posted 5-17-22 totals in 77 games with the Devils last season and was minus-8 while averaging 18:18 of ice time.

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“I think a lot of it was because of the team that I had played for the past three years in a rebuilding situation,” Subban said. “A lot of people used that narrative to kind of put me into a box and I don’t have to succumb to that. For me, I went into this summer with an open mind. I trained and prepared and I wanted to be ready. I think when I got to July and it was free agency and things weren’t going that way I kind of knew that if I don’t get an opportunity to play for a contending team I’m not going to play and that’s what it was.”

Would Subban have been interested in re-signing with the Canadiens — even though they’re rebuilding?

“The offer wasn’t made, so I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals and wonder what was and wasn’t,” he said. “I’m sure my agent (Don Meehan) had a conversation with a lot of different teams, but there was nothing presented to me in front of me where I had a decision to make. At the end of the day, a lot of things could have happened or should have happened, but didn’t. I’m a person that’s about the here and now. I think what has helped me throughout my career and in my life is living my life moment by moment.”

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Kudos to the new Canadiens management team for inviting Subban back to the Bell Centre. It’s also a smart marketing move since the Bell Centre will probably be packed and it will give Canadiens fans something to cheer about.

“I’m excited to see a lot of family, friends and people that have helped me and supported me and really took care of me when I was in Montreal,” Subban said. “I’m looking forward to being in front of fans that have given me life for so many years and have given me energy and have supported me and my family and have given back to me in ways that I could have never imagined. So I’m excited to be a part of that experience.”

Welcome back, P.K.

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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