Subban reflects on tough season

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 on to 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 on 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 dismissed their general manager.

Following Tuesday night’s 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a Devils team some predicted would compete for a playoff spot was now 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 years left on his contract, all he can do is smile and try to stay positive.

“There’s been a lot of changes and a lot has gone on,” Subban, standing in the visitors’ dressing room, 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 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 the defenceman would come in and provide a spark in the same way he did when he was 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 up with another 12 points in 22 playoff games.