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Georges "The Prophet" Laraque

CH1

CH1

The Artist Formerly Known as chiggins.
April 12,2016

http://www.hockeyinsideout.com/news/former-canadien-laraque-says-subbans-teammates-are-jealous-of-him

“When the King Clancy Trophy got announced the entire NHL — executives, everybody — felt, you know what, this is done. P.K.’s going to win it across the league,” Laraque said during an interview on former Canadien Chris Nilan’s Off the Cuff show on TSN Radio 690 on Tuesday afternoon.

Laraque said he thought it was a “no-brainer” that Subban would be nominated for the King Clancy Trophy by his teammates.

“P.K.’s a great guy,” Laraque said. “I love him. But I never thought that his teammates would have this reaction towards him. I know that he’s a guy that’s excited and brings a lot of energy, but he backs it up on the ice.”

Laraque said he thinks Subban’s teammates are jealous of him.

“He makes $9 million a year,” Laraque told Nilan. “He makes all the endorsements. He is the face of the league … he’s everywhere. He’s good in front of cameras … very good with the media.

“If you criticize the fact that he’s everywhere, that’s jealousy,” Laraque added. “Because at the end of the day, on the ice he plays 30 minutes a game. Yeah, he’s going to make some mistakes some times. Look at (Ottawa’s Erik) Karlsson … you think Karlsson does mistakes? Defensively, P.K.’s way better.”

Laraque continued: “P.K. brings way more good than bad on your team. So when you look at that, he plays physical, he’s annoying to play against, he’s a presence. He’s one of the best defencemen in the NHL, and that’s not even a debate.

“Whether he does a lot in front of cameras and he’s good and he’s funny, what’s important — and the guys the way they should look at him — is that when he plays is he a leader on the ice?”

Laraque told Nilan he wouldn’t be surprised if the Canadiens end up trading Subban.

“I’ve always said that P.K. one day is going to be traded like (Chris) Chelios and Patrick Roy was because guys that are too big in Montreal, they get traded because it’s like the organization doesn’t like that.”
 
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We'll merge them soon enough... it's the off season, I have no problem with spur threads when "new info" comes out.
 
I was wondering who was going to replace xpo with useless posts.....

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what happened to the worm I loved...he used to be funny
 
The important nugget of information in Georges' comments is that it wasn't all about how Therrien and Bergevin didn't like PK's act; his own teammates shivved him. When you make a $10 million donation to a children's hospital and your own teammates

A) don't show up to the ribbon cutting ceremony and

B) don't nominate you for the league award for philanthropy

That is a message they're sending.

Now undoubtedly some of that could be attributed to petty jealousy but nearly every player in that dressing room is a millionaire so I doubt that's the biggest factor.

We need to accept the fact that while we as fans loved all the stuff he did both on and off the ice, we don't really know him nor did we have to work with him on a daily basis. Some of the people who did, however, clearly got fed up with him.

Did Therrien hate him? Undoubtedly. Did the things he did to self-promote rub Bergevin and some others on the 7th floor the wrong way? Probably. But were there also several of PK's teammates who weren't shedding any tears when he was traded? I'm guessing yes.

And that more than any hate-on that Therrien might have had for him, is the real reason why Subban was traded. No matter how talented a player is he has to be with the team. He can't be on his own planet doing his own thing and he can't cause dissention and division in the room.

It's true that Subban wasn't really traded for on ice reasons and it's also true that a lot of the discontent you're hearing from the fans also has nothing to do with Subban's on ice performance. They liked him because he was different and funny and was always popping up on their twitter feed or their Facebook page doing something cool. Jay Baruschel's biggest complaint about the trade is that the Habs "aren't as cool" without PK. The media loved him because he was a quote machine who made their stories easier to write. But again, none of those people had to put up with his in your face persona 24/7 like his teammates did.

I liked PK too but I don't care about having a "coolness factor". Winning a Cup would be cool. And I'm not fussy about how much personality the team has or doesn't have so long as they make it happen. I'll gladly "settle" for watching boring old Shea Weber take the Cup for a victory lap.
 
One thing I will be interested to see is how Weber handles the pressure cooker. Montreal isn't Nashville and he is going to have a mic in his face post game. I hear alot about character, lets see how he and the family respond to life under the watchful eye of a rabid media and fanbase.
 
Alan C said:
One thing I will be interested to see is how Weber handles the pressure cooker. Montreal isn't Nashville and he is going to have a mic in his face post game. I hear alot about character, lets see how he and the family respond to life under the watchful eye of a rabid media and fanbase.
Click to expand...

He seemed to handle the pressure of the Olympics (where Canada has nothing to win but everything to lose) without any trouble.
 
I've been trying to think which Canadiens trade this most reminds me of and I think I've settled on the Langway (and Laughlin) for Green (and Walter) swap in 1981. Yes, that trade happened because Langway forced it - he wanted to play in the U.S. - but even though he was the more talented d-man than Green, like Subban is compared to Weber, Rick Green became a very valuable stay-at-home, clear the front of the net, d-man for the Habs for the better part of decade, during which they won a Cup and lost in the finals to Calgary in '89. The point is you're not going to succeed or fail in a team sport like hockey on the basis of any single player. You need to build a team with different parts that fit together. Hopefully Weber, and what he will bring to the table, help to accomplish that in the next few years. I think it could.
 
Alan C said:
Please your bringing up Olympic hockey lol.
Click to expand...
I hate doing it but the Pro-olympics crowd is forever trying to convince me that it means something. At any rate it doesn't matter what we think. If the players think it's a big deal then the pressure to win that they feel is genuine and their ability to handle it has meaning.
 
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