MONTREAL, QC — Honey, we need to talk.
Five words when grouped together in a sentence sends shivers down many a spine.
Yet here I was contemplating using this sentence with my daughter.
Why?
It was hours before the 3 pm. February 27th deadline. And her hero, P.K. Subban, may be traded.
There were too many rumours out there that he was being shopped around. What an odd term this “shopped around.” I always thought it was reserved for televisions and cars. Not hockey players.
“If P.K. gets traded mom, that manager guy is in big trouble,” she proclaimed with a mouth full of Cheerios.
Delivering bad news is a very difficult thing. Delivering bad news to a child is an excruciating painful task.
I didn’t want to do this and thankfully I was spared. Mister Gauthier did not trade Mister Subban.
Phew…
Mind you, it would have given me an extreme amount of pleasure to see a spunky 10-year-old girl stomp Gauthier’s feet and smack him. She is after all her mother’s daughter. But I digress…
The NHL Trade Deadline day came and went, and the Montreal Canadiens had one casualty and one acquisition.
Brad Staubitz was acquired off waivers from the Minnesota Wild and will wear the No. 25 on his jersey. This is the number worn by several players in the past. Let’s hope it’s a lucky number for Brad. Welcome to the family.
Andrei Kostitsyn, AK46, was sent to the Nashville Predators for a second round pick in 2013 and a fifth round selection in the 2013 Entry Draft.
Andrei didn’t want to leave Montreal. This was his home. The Hockey Mecca.
When he first wore the jersey of the Tricolore he was but twenty years of age. He was nurtured, and he flourished here.
Montreal was all he knew.
Loved by many, and these same people will miss him and follow his endeavors and achievements in Nashville.
He is being reunited with his brother Sergei, Francis Bouillon and of course Hal Gill.
Now it’s time for goodbye.
Good luck Andrei! Sad to see you go! Enjoy your time in Nashville, home of the Grand Ole Opry. You never know, you may start humming along to country music and understand Carey’s love.
Music City will never be the same again.