Devils’ Subban having strange season
Former Norris winner has become more conservative on the ice with New Jersey
Dressed in full equipment and with a 100-watt smile plastered across his familiar face, P.K. Subban was singing along to a country song as he stepped onto the ice for the morning skate on Tuesday.
“Funny how a melody sounds like a memoryyyyyy,” the New Jersey Devils defenceman crooned in a southern twang, as Eric Church’s Springsteen played from a nearby stereo.
Call it a leftover from his time playing in Nashville. Another memory of where he was at this time last year. And how good things had been.
Then again, anywhere might be better than New Jersey these days.
The Devils, who had begun the season with so much promise and so much hype after drafting Jack Hughes with the No. 1 overall pick and then acquiring Subban in a trade one day later, have been a complete mess this season. They’ve fired their coach, they’ve traded their best player in Taylor Hall and last week they gassed their general manager.
At the beginning of the season, some predicted the Devils would compete for a playoff spot. Heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey is sitting in last place in the Metropolitan Division with a little less than half the season still left to play.
For Subban, who has three more years under contract, all he can do is try to stay positive.
“There’s been a lot of changes and a lot has gone on,” Subban said following the morning skate. “At the end of the day, there were expectations for our team at the start of the season. Whether they were realistic or not, they were not met.”
“I’ve been lucky my whole career to be on teams that have been at the top of the division, the top of the conference, playoff teams,” he said. “I think there’s been only one other year where it’s been similar to this. All I have to think about is being part of the solution.”
Part of why those expectations were not met is because of Subban. He was brought in to be the solution. But with just five goals and 10 points in his first 45 games, as well as a minus-11 rating, he’s been one of the many reasons why the Devils have underachieved.
It’s been an uncharacteristic season from someone who won the Norris Trophy in 2012-13.
When now-fired GM Ray Shero acquired Subban, it was because he believed Subban would come in and provide a spark in the same way he provided one when he had been traded from Montreal to Nashville in 2016. That season, the Predators reached the Stanley Cup Final after Subban scored 40 points in 66 regular season games and followed it up with another 12 points in 22 playoff games.
This year, he’s on pace for a measly 18 points. For someone who has put up decent point totals per season over his career, it’s been a huge disappointment — and he knows it.
“There’s no question,” he said when asked if he’s been frustrated with his own play. “As to why we’re in this situation, I think we all have to look in the mirror and see what we can do better. But there’s certain things that are out of my control.
“I think when you lose the first five games of the season and you get behind the eight ball, you have to almost try to change the way you play and make sure the puck doesn’t go in the net. I’m a guy who likes to play both ends of the ice and I think for a fair part of the season I was trying to defend and trying to slow the other team down.”
This is another way of saying that New Jersey’s goaltenders have been atrocious. So much so that Subban has changed his game.
He’s become conservative. Scared, even. After all, it’s difficult to pinch on offence when you can’t even trust your goalie to make a simple save.
That’s part of his problem this season. When asked more on why his production has suffered, Subban mentions that his minutes have been less than what he’s used to.
“I’ve always been the type of player who when I play more, I play better,” he said.
He hasn’t played much on the top power play unit either.
“Those are the situations that defined me as a player,” he said.
“To get points, you have to be on good teams and playing with good players,” said Subban. “You have to have good players around you.”
This isn’t Subban making excuses or slamming his teammates, many of whom he’s pegged as future “superstars.” But when asked if he expects to be part of this team when the rebuild is complete, the 30-yearold was pretty honest about what lies ahead. And it’s likely not him in a Devils jersey.
“Listen, in my career up to this point I’ve never asked for a trade,” he said. “Maybe I’m a little bit old-school that way. I’ve learned from a lot of veteran guys in the league who put their head down and go to work and do their job. I’m being paid to do a job.
But the business is the business.”