M Bergevin, les amateurs du CH vous prient!

Cher Marc Bergevin... Poor Len Canayen tried to tell you in January. Walt tried to tell you before the Olympics and again after the Olympics. Today, fans of your Montréal Canadiens (like the one pictured) are begging you: trade P.K. Subban!

Cher Marc, you've got to stop listening to those guys who defend Subban because he's enthusiastic and flashy and an inspiration to... well, you know what I mean. He may be all of those things, but he's a liability to the team! That's why, even though he was chosen for Team Canada in a fit of political correctness, Mike Babcock refused to play him, except for a token 11 minutes in Canada's least challenging game.

In an exchange of e-mails with Agent 3, the Montreal Gazette's respected Red Fisher pointed out that Subban's +/- (plus/minus) stats are positive, which is true. But the +/- number is skewed by the fact that Subban plays on the power play (about 75% of the time) and does not play on the penalty kill. Why? Because Michel Therrien has little confidence in his ability to play defence when it counts! See "P.K. can't be trusted on the P.K.!".

Here's what Walt, Len and Habs fans (like the one pictured) saw last night and the night before.

Wednesday night: Detroit 2 @ Canadiens 1Cher Marc, your team stank. There's plenty of blame to go around, but Subban should take more than his share. Of 3 Habs penalties, P.K. took 2, neither of them "good penalties". Detroit scored its only goal in regulation time while he was in the box. He was on the ice when Montréal scored its only goal, with less than a minute to go in the third period.

But he went into the box again in the overtime period, for a cheap retaliation shot, nullifying what should have been a Montréal power play. He returned to the ice in time for Detroit's winning goal. His +/- was therefore 0, but if you had to pick one player whose work hurt more than it helped, P.K. would be that player.

Thursday night: Canadiens 6 @ Pittsburgh 5A very lucky win for the Habs in a shoot-out after a crazy game! (And congratulations to Petr Budaj for stopping Neal, Crosby and Malkin!) Subban was on the ice with poor Josh Gorges for the first two Penguins goals. So far away from the play was he on the second goal that Rene Bourque wound up playing P.K.'s position.

The really egregious mistake, though, was a horrible example of Subban's showboat style, an astounding turnover at the Pittsburgh blueline on the power play, no less, which gave Sutter a clear break on which he scored to give the Penguins a 4-3 lead. The expression on Therrien's face was indescribable -- so horrific and fierce that the TV camera cut away. Except for the rest of the power play, Subban rode the pine for the rest of the game, and rightly so.

Cher Marc, Red Fisher says 29 other NHL teams would be glad to have P.K. Subban. Walt doubts it, but in the name of all Habs fans asks you to make a few phone calls, for the good of the team! Please! We beg you!

Note from Len: Marc, call Vancouver! Maybe you could get Alex Burrows and a draft pick (or two). We need some grit and scoring punch up front, and the Canucks need some D, so there's your deal!