Someone describing himself as a "season ticket holder and a lifelong fan" of the Montreal Canadiens has taken out a full-page ad in Thursday morning's Montreal Gazette to express his appreciation for the now-departed P.K. Subban — and to announce he was effectively boycotting the team over his trade to Nashville.
The ad contains a letter signed "Dr. CK and Family." In it, he describes how he grew up on the Prairies watching the team's last great dynasty of the 1970s, and how he "truly thought that my love for the Hab was forever", and how he didn't think there was anything that could change that — until the trade.
Subban's trade to the Predators on June 29 in return for another star defenceman, Shea Weber, unleashed a torrent of anger in Montreal — an anger that lingers with the mysterious Dr. CK as the new season is about to begin.
"Now, I feel anger, disappointment and embarrassment over the treatment of P.K. Subban by team management: the same sentiments that many felt after the Patrick Roy trade," he writes.
Subban, he said, was "an amazing hockey talent, and an even more amazing individual."
"You are an amazing and influential role model for my children and I am going to miss not having you as a Montreal Canadien."
Dr. CK says while he's a season ticket holder, he will only be attending one game in 2016-2017 — on March 2, when the Subban and the Predators make their only visit to the Bell Centre.
And he has harsh words for the current Canadiens management, particularly general manager Marc Bergevin and coach Michel Therrien.
"I do not, and will not support, Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien," he writes. "And make no mistake, my fellow fans: attending games at the Bell Centre is a vote of confidence in their leadership."
He says "in the near future, I will be announcing an initiative in this regard", without offering specifics.