Canadiens: Subban Believes Two Former Teammates Deserve The Rafters

The Montreal Canadiens have retired 15 numbers honouring 17 players so far, but according to former blueliner P.K. Subban, there should be 17 numbers in the Bell Centre rafters.

Earlier this week, former Montreal Canadiens 43rd overall pick at the 2007 draft P.K. Subban appeared on the French-Canadian podcast La Poche Bleue and discussed a variety of topics. One that was always going to make the headlines was the defender's advocacy to see numbers 31 and 79 go up to the rafters to honour his former teammates, Carey Price and Andrei Markov. 

From the moment he arrived in town, the smooth-skating defenseman made it clear he had opinions and wasn't afraid to speak his mind. It was hardly surprising that he turned to the media for his post-hockey career. 

The topic that really got me thinking from his appearance on the Guillaume Lattendresse and Maxim Lapierre ran podcast was his belief that Andrei Markov's and Carey Price's numbers should be hanging from the rafters in the Mecca of hockey.

Of course, many will dismiss the idea based solely on the fact that neither of them won a Stanley Cup, but this shouldn't and can't be the only criteria to decide who should forever be remembered as a Canadiens legend.

Granted, all the players are currently in the rafters of Stanley Cups, but times have changed. How many sacred chalices have the 17 players whose numbers hang in the rafter collected? It varies, and here is the breakdown.

Looking at those numbers, it's easy to see expansion's impact on the number of championships a team could reasonably expect to win. Nobody would have said Patrick Roy doesn't deserve the rafters because he only won two cups with the Canadiens when Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden won six. 

Not only is it harder to win the Stanley Cup now that there are so many teams, but it also means talent is diluted between those many teams. The Canadiens' super teams of the past just wouldn't happen today with a seven-round draft in which 32 teams take place. 

No matter how good Guy Lafleur was, would he be as good playing with less talented players by his side? If he didn't have Jacques Lemaire or Pete Mahovlich as his center and sniper Steve Shutt on the other wing, does he bag as many assists? Of Flower's franchise-leading 1246 career points with the Habs, 728 were assists. No matter how good a player is, hockey is a team sport, and no player can win a Stanley Cup alone. 

Andrei Markov has never won a Stanley Cup, and he's never made it to the final. He would have reached the Conference final in 2009-10 but was injured. He did, however, reach it in 2013-14. You know, the playoffs I'm talking about, the ones in which Chris Kreider crashed into Carey Price.

Even if he never won the cup, Markov is sixth all-time in games played with the Canadiens (990), sixth in assists with 453, and 18th in points with 572 (tied with Guy "Pointu" Lapointe, who gathered them in fewer games, but still, he's in the rafters). He's also third in goals scored by a defenseman with 119, just ahead of Serge Savard, who has 100 in 917 games in fourth place, and as we've seen, he's in the rafters, too. 

Markov also has 60 power-play goals for the Habs, which is second among blueliners. Larry Robinson has the lead with 65, but he played over 200 more games, and yes, of course, he is in the rafter. Finally, the general is also third among defensemen in franchise history with 20 game-winning goals (Lapointe is second with the same amount of GWG but in fewer games). 

A Stanley Cup is, and always has been, a team award. Numbers should go in the rafters when a player has put his name in indelible ink in the franchise history book, and I strongly believe, just like Subban, that Markov has done that. 

What about Carey Price? Where does he land in Canadiens history? He's never won a Cup, but he led a team no one expected to the Final in 2021, led it to the Conference Final in 2014, and rode the pine in the 2010 Halak Spring when Montreal made the Conference final. 

Records-wise, no other goaltender has manned the Canadiens' net more times (712), won more games (361), received as many shots (21,059, almost 6,000 more than Patrick Roy), or made as many saves (19,304) as Carey Price. 

He's fifth in save percentage with a .917, eighth in goals against average with 2.51, and third in shutouts with 49. Whichever way you look at it, Carey Price has rewritten the Canadiens records book and was, for quite a few seasons, the goaltender most players feared. 

Both players bled red, white, and blue and deserve to be up there in the rafters whether or not they had the necessary supporting cast to win the ultimate price, Lord Stanley's mug. 

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains

Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens