Edmonton Oilers: Addressing P.K. Subban Trade Rumors

There have been rumors of late that the Montréal Canadiens are going to trade away defenseman P.K. Subban, and now, there is talk that the Edmonton Oilers are one of the candidates to make a deal for the star player.

“I’d be shocked if [Montréal doesn’t] as an organization sit down and have a discussion about all of their options, including P.K., before his full no-trade kicks in, and see where it goes from there.” TSN’s Bob McKenzie said on TSN1050 Friday.

Subban is still in a long-term deal with Montréal, where he is currently being paid around $9 million per season. His no trade clause begins July 1, giving the Canadiens some time to consider trading him away.

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This season has been a tough one for Subban and the Club du Hockey. After being eliminated the first round by Tampa Bay in 2015, Montréal will completely miss this postseason campaign. It’s rumored that Subban and head coach Michel Therrien have not been getting along this season.

After a rough loss the Canadiens had a few months back, Therrien blamed Subban and called the star defenseman “selfish.” This was the beginning of stern relations between Subban and the team’s coaching staff.

Not to mention, Subban is rumored to have an “ego” problem, and despite his humanitarian effort and huge role in the surrounding Canadian community, he still struggles with arrogance and thinking highly of himself.

The defenseman lead the league in giveaways (106) this season. In 68 games this season, Subban had six goals and 45 assists and was a plus-4. He’s a solid, hard-hitting defenseman who can play a tough game and truly make a difference on the ice. Subban also has a wicked shot from the point and backchecking ability that can truly help a team like Edmonton.

That being said, if you’re Montréal, and if you’re Edmonton, do you organize a Subban trade? It has been speculated, and there is only one way I see Subban coming here: we need to trade a big name, and then some.

One trade that has been rumored is and would be a legitimate deal is Taylor Hall for Subban, but I also believe that Edmonton could throw in Nail Yakupov and also get someone like Lars Eller (don’t go nuts yet folks, just a suggestion).

If you throw Yakupov into a deal for Subban, it gives Yakupov his wish to be traded and would reunite him with Alex Galchenyuk. This would make the trade more legitimate and add more to the deal on Edmonton’s end. The only player that the Habs would consider trading Subban for on the Oilers is Hall, a proven NHL goal-scorer and someone who can constantly produce points and add to their offense.

However, I do not see this trade happening at all, because of the consequences and holes it would leave on both rosters. Granted, it’s easy to replace a winger, but not one like Hall. And when you’re Edmonton and looking to improve the overall defense, you need more than one very expensive defenseman.

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So my take? If we deal for Subban, we make many other moves to improve first before diving head-first into a trade like this.

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