Subban on the move again?!

P.K. Subban is finally back in action after missing more than a month with an injury, and it did not take long for trade rumors to be back alongside the star defenseman. 

Subban had been out since he sustained an an upper-body injury in a Nov. 13 game against the San Jose Sharks. The defenseman registered 12 points in the 18 games he played prior to getting hurt, averaging 22:43 of ice-time per game. The Predators activated him from IR on Thursday and the veteran blue liner was back to take on the Dallas Stars, who blanked the Preds 2-0. 

According to Sportsnet's Luke Fox, who put together a list of nine bold predictions for 2019, the trade chatter surrounding Subban will be picking up as the NHL insider does not expect the veteran player to retire in Music City. 

The Predators will be facing an important financial puzzle in 2019-2020 with captain and star defenseman Roman Josi looking for a pay raise and a hefty contract extension, and Fox strongly believes Subban will be sacrificed and moved to allow GM David Poile to keep his captain in Nashville. 

"Another stumble to represent the West in mid-June will propel a gunslinger like David Poile to shake things up before he starts paying  Roman Josi  (skating with a near-criminal $4-million cap hit ’til 2020) the salary he deserves.

Tell me I’m not the only one who finds it difficult to envision Subban, with his AAV of $9 million and recent injury woes, retiring in Nashville."

It's not the first time Subban finds himself at the centre of many trade rumors. At the end of last season, the Predators felt the need to quiet down the chatter as head coach Peter Laviolette explained why he couldn't understand the buzz...

“Where’s he going?” Laviolette had said at the end of the year press conference. “P.K. is here for me. Listen, he’s been here for two years, and we’re moving in a pretty good direction here with him as part of our club. He’s been awesome. His regular season, I thought, was really good last year; he might have been the best player on our team in the playoffs last year."

It remains to be seen if the team will once again deny the chatter, or if the rumours will become a reality shortly...