Report: Philly talking Subban trade with Montreal

Some curious news out of Montreal — according to RDS’ Bertrand Raymond, the Canadiens have had discussions with Philadelphia about the availability of P.K. Subban.

Subban, 23, is an RFA that’s spent the entire summer negotiating a new contract. An earlier report from TSN claimed the Canadiens had offered a two-year, $5.5 million deal for the speedy defenseman — one that Subban’s camp rejected — and talk from both sides throughout the offseason has been of the “we’re working on it” and “hopefully something will get done soon” variety.

According to Raymond, that narrative may have changed.

From RDS (translated):

There have been talks with the Philadelphia Flyers about his controversial defender, a thoroughbred that will always be hard to tame and whose attitude could possibly irritate [head coach Michel] Therrien…

…Presumably, the Flyers took the lead in trying to inquire about the status of the Subban. Is it available in the event that the offer is interesting enough [for] Montreal? Who knows how things happened between the two teams? Certainly they have chatted.

It’s not overly surprising Philly would make a play for Subban, especially after submitting a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet to Nashville’s Shea Weber, a deal the Preds eventually matched.

The Flyers need defensemen — they’ll likely start the season  without Chris Pronger (concussion), Andrej Meszaros (Achilles) and Andreas Lilja (hip) — and have been unabashedly bold in their pursuit of talent.

There’s also a sense of immediacy from the organization. As Raymond points out in his piece, Flyers owner Ed Snider is almost 80 years old and his recent investments (paying huge for Ilya Bryzgalov chief among them) suggest he wants a run at the Stanley Cup, and wants it soon.