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Nobody seemed too upset this week when Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban wasn’t among the four defencemen selected on the preliminary Team Canada roster for September’s World Cup tournament.

There were lots of reminders that this was a preliminary list and that there will be three more defencemen added to the team on June 1.

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It was pointed that the four D-men named to the team — Drew Doughty (L.A. Kings), Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks), Marc-Édouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks) and Shea Weber (Nashville Predators) — were the guys who helped Canada win the gold medal at the Sochi Olympics. Carey Price described them as “studs” but expressed confidence that Subban would join them in Toronto.

Subban, who has never given less than a 100-per-cent effort, said he would try to make it difficult for the Team Canada brass to keep him off the team.

The reality is that it will be easy to keep Subban off the team and, even if he makes it, there is no guarantee that he will get any significant ice time. That’s because the team is once again in the hands of Mike Babcock, the greatest coach in the world who has won only one Stanley Cup. Babcock is inclined to go with the same pairings that won in Sochi and that means the St. Louis Blues’ Alex Pietrangelo will get the nod over Subban, who dressed for only one game in Sochi.