Clancy nomination ‘means a lot’ to Subban
Sedin brothers and Zucker other finalists
WINNIPEG• There is no more polarizing figure in the series between the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets than defenceman P.K. Subban.
On one hand, the Predators star is a villain, booed at every opportunity by the Winnipeg fans, and a general pain in the behind for the Jets to play against.
On the other hand, he’s one of the league’s great philanthropists, a man who puts a large amount of time and money into helping others.
It was announced Thursday Subban has been nominated for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy along with Henrik and Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks and Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild.
The award is given to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.
While talking about the award in the Predators locker-room Thursday ahead of Game 4 of the series at Bell MTS Place, Subban was asked if he found it strange that fans still boo him, even though he is known as such a giving player.
“What boos?” he said with a smile. “I don’t know. When were they booing me?
“I’m just kidding. That’s just a part of pro sports. I’m sure there’s a lot of athletes that see it in sports. You know what? I’ll take it as a compliment and continue to play.”
It’s true that fans don’t usually boo players who have little or no impact on a game. Subban is both an offensive force and a defensive shot suppressor, who can mix it up physically with the best of them. He’s nominated for his second Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman this season.
He’s not about to let a little noise from the fans get to him.
“My focus is just on our team,” he said. “It becomes a distraction if we pay too much attention to that. We’re just focused on the game on the ice and doing my job. When you’re asked to play a lot of minutes in different situations, you really have no time or energy to focus on anything else but the game. Winnipeg is a good team, there’s some good players. You lose your focus for a second, it can cost you.”
Subban certainly plays with an edge and has been known to be in the referee’s ear about real or imagined infractions incurred against him on the ice.
He hasn’t been as good as usual in this series — he took the penalty that led to the Jets’ winning goal in Game 3 — but he has averaged over 30 minutes per game of ice time and the Jets always have to be aware when he’s on the ice.
“If he was on your team, you’d love him. And if you’re playing against him, he’s pretty tough to play against,” Jets centre Paul Stastny said. “When you’re playing against him, you keep your emotions in check because he wants to get under your skin.”
As much as he irritates his opponents, Subban does the opposite with his teammates, inspiring them on and off the ice.
“He’s a great guy in the room, brings a lot of energy and passion for the game,” Nashville forward Colton Sissons said. “Off the ice, he’s a big-time philanthropist who does a lot of great things and helps a lot of people out.
“He’s definitely a leading example as far as the NHL goes.”
Subban’s charitable work started when he was a member of the Montreal Canadiens and that’s one of the reasons he’s still revered in Quebec. There were seven reporters from Montreal covering the Nashville-Winnipeg games last weekend in Tennessee.
He pledged to donate $10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation and is still working to that goal and he’s the founder of Blue-line Buddies, a program that uses hockey to bring down barriers between police and local youth in Nashville. Subban brings together a member of the Nashville police and a guest with an underprivileged youth and a mentor from a local organization at Predators’ games by supplying tickets, dinner and a pregame meeting.
“It means a lot,” Subban said. “Generally, with hockey players, we don’t usually talk about individual awards and nominations a lot but this one is a little different and very special. I’m very, very honoured and I was very happy to hear the news Thursday.”
NO HELP FOR RINNE
Just before Blake Wheeler scored the winning goal in Game 3, Predators goalie Pekka Rinne alerted one of the referees that a strap had come loose on his helmet and was hoping to get a stoppage in play.
He was denied and before he got get a chance to fix the strap, the puck was in the back of his net.
“When you look at the rule book, it’s the referee’s call,” Rinne said. “I let him know about the situation and it’s his call to make the decision, whatever he feels like is safest for the goalie or good for the game. At that moment, he thought that I could play through and I didn’t get the call.
“That’s part of the game.”
HE’S ... A LEADING EXAMPLE AS FAR AS THE NHL GOES.