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If Toronto Maple Leafs mercurial forward Phil Kessel has a fan club in Montreal, you could probably hold its meetings in a bus shelter.

But know this: the president of that club might be Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban, who can’t — from where he stands at a bit of a distance — understand how Kessel has become the lightning rod for all that is rotten with the Maple Leafs.

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“I don’t think it’s deserved, some of the stuff that they’ve gone through this year,” Subban began generally of the Maple Leafs after the Canadiens’ 2-1 shootout victory over Toronto on Saturday.

And then he turned his attention specifically to Kessel, whose jersey crest isn’t so much an 11-or- more point maple leaf as it is a bulls-eye.

Kessel might or might not still be in Toronto after the March 2 NHL trade deadline.

Some think he still has shelf life in the Queen City after having played 421 of his 643 NHL games with the Maple Leafs. Others, well, they have thoughtfully packed his bags for him and purchased his one-way ticket.