Matt Pfeffer releases statement on his involvement in P.K. Subban trade

Matt Pfeffer, the former analytics consultant for the Montreal Canadiens released a statement to Sportsnet clarifying his role in the decision-making process leading towards the trade of star defenceman P.K. Subban.

Here is part of the statement.

"Prior to the trade, I submitted a report comparing both players. I made a passionate case in favour of P.K. Subban. There was never a meeting with management.  Ultimately, this is the nature of this kind of work. Management makes their decision based on a variety of criteria. Their evaluation may have been different in this case, but there was consensus on other decisions through my time with the team."

He states that he prepared an in-depth report that favoured Subban over Weber, and delivered it to General Manager Marc Bergevin, however in the end he's not sure whether this report had any bearing in the final decision-making process, as he was not consulted on his findings. This leads credence to the idea that the team had either made up their minds previous, or that the other aspects of the trade would not dissuade them from making this deal.

Most analytics experts certainly have supported, and will continue to support, Pfeffer's findings that Subban is the superior player out of the two. From the start it's been evident that this trade was not based on pure analytic data, but rather perception by the Montreal Canadiens organization of the kind of team they want to ice next season. Shea Weber should make Montreal much less pleasant to play against, as the physically imposing defenceman will certainly ensure that his presence is felt in every game.

Bergevin has said that fans and media do not have all of the information on why they made the trade. We now know they at least had some sort of information that pointed towards not making the trade.