HOME GAMES
The P.K. Subban winter caravan rolls through Toronto and Montreal,
Nashville Predators defenceman P.K. Subban might be the NHL’s most popular athlete when it comes to combining abilities with off-ice presence.
The 28-year-old local product is under an even wider spotlight this week, with visits to his hometown Wednesday and his former team in Montreal on Saturday.
A rush of cameras and notepads were waiting Wednesday morning for Subban, but there’s a greater reach to his stardom: He’s setting a bar for younger players in the sport, from peewee players who help make his jersey one of the bestsellers to NHL rookies learning from his career path.
Count the Leafs rookie defenceman Travis Dermott among those following Subban.
“You admire his passion for the game,” Dermott said Wednesday. “There’s guys in the game who focus on getting wins and points, and their careers, and then there’s guys like P.K. . . .
“He loves the game, with the way he plays and the things he does off the ice. I’d like to learn from that and I’d like to drive myself and be a person whose drive comes off a love for the game, and not just money.”
Subban’s stardom hasn’t come without criticism — there were questions about his popularity with his former Canadiens teammates — but he has become a magnet for Hollywood-like attention with his play, his personality and his philanthropy. Back in November, only two NHLers were named to Forbes magazine’s 30-under-30 list for sports personalities — Subban and Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby.
The list of Subban’s star-worthy accomplishments includes sponsorships with Samsung, Listerine, Gatorade and Bridgestone, and he earned mention as one of Canada’s 25 hottest bachelors by Hello magazine.
Subban, through his foundation, donated $10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital nine months before he was traded by the Canadiens, the highest charitable donation by an NHL player.
“I try to do my part, do my best, but I want to focus on our games and helping (the Predators) win,” Subban said. “Obviously, opportunities present themselves off the ice . . . I always want to be myself and do the best I can.”
Subban spent his team’s recent bye week, in part, with a visit to Toronto, where he dropped in on a Leafs game and was instantly flashed on the television broadcast and across the Air Canada Centre scoreboard.
“A friend of mine was opening a restaurant and he asked me to show up . . . and then another friend had tickets to (the Leafs game), and asked me to go,” Subban said. “But I took off for Florida right after that. My power skating coach is in Coral Gables, so I headed down there.”
The Predators are once again Stanley Cup favourites built on defence. They have allowed just 69 shots in their last three games, all wins. But the Nashville blue line also has reputation for involving itself in the offence, as well as excelling in breakouts and neutral zone play.
“They have an extremely gifted, high-end defence,” said Leafs blueliner Ron Hainsey, who was with Pittsburgh last season when the Penguins defeated the Predators in the Stanley Cup final.
“They create havoc, they create confusion. All of a sudden, you see four guys in your end, and you have to switch off . . . and those defencemen can do that all on their own. You have to keep the puck up ice, play in their end as much as possible.”
As for his visit to Montreal Saturday, Subban is looking forward to catching up with some friends he does not see as much.
He keeps tabs on his old team, but can’t worry about the non-playoff status of the Canadiens.
“In this league, there’s so much parity now, you don’t have time to feel sorry for anyone,” Subban said. “You have to focus on our team. You look at (the Central Division) and you can be in first place or fourth place, it’s so close there. You can only focus on what you do, the games are all so important now.”