BROSSARD, Que. – Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban should bask in the adulation he’s sure to receive when his team plays host to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the new Vidéotron Centre in Quebec City Monday night. It could be the last time he’s greeted so warmly there.
Pierre Karl Péladeau has made a bid to bring an NHL franchise back to the city and is currently entrenched with the league in the third and final phase of the approval process. If—and some people believe it’s more a matter of when—the bid is approved, it won’t be long before Subban becomes public enemy No. 1 in Quebec City.
On Monday, Subban contemplated the notion of Canada’s largest province becoming home to two NHL teams.
“It would be different,” said Subban. “Playing for the Canadiens, we’ve been the only team in Quebec since I’ve been here. To have another team in Quebec, I’m not too sure. It would be interesting to see what the response would be from the province, but more hockey is always good in Canada. We love hockey here, it’s our sport. We’ll see what happens.”
Subban was just six years old when the Nordiques left for Colorado in 1995, so he isn’t able to draw on any childhood memories of the classic Quebec rivalry.
“I’ve just seen pictures of Mats Sundin in those Nordiques uniforms with the Jofa bucket on,” Subban said. “It’s pretty cool to see that stuff. I was just kind of barely a thought when [the Nordiques] were around. I’m excited to see the new building.”
Péladeau, the leader of the Parti Québecois, broke ground at the construction site in October of 2012. The $370 million arena was completed at the end of August and now houses the QMJHL’s Quebec Ramparts.
Vidéotron Centre officially opened its doors to hockey on September 12 as the Ramparts lost 4-2 to the Rimouski Oceanic. A capacity crowd of 18,259 fans, politicians, famous Quebec personalities and former Nordiques players took in the game.
The building has since hosted its first concert—a Metallica show on September 16—and Monday night will mark the first NHL game.
The Canadiens are icing a crowd-pleasing, veteran-laden lineup for the occasion.
Goaltender Carey Price will play the full game, while Andrei Markov, Jeff Petry, Nathan Beaulieu, Mark Barberio and Tom Gilbert will join Subban on the blueline. Up front, Tomas Plekanec, Alex Semin, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Lars Eller, David Desharnais, Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann will all participate.
However, the Penguins weren’t inclined to bring in the big guns for this game. While Quebecers Marc-André Fleury, Pascal Dupuis, David Perron and Kris Letang made the trip, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel are sitting this one out.
