Has PK Subban’s skating declined?

[SenzZen]

every picture of you is a picture of you when you were younger.

RIP Mitch Hedberg

 

[The Macho King]

He was never blazing fast - just has excellent edge work and good acceleration.

 

[hersky77]

PKs straight line speed isn’t what makes him the player he is. It’s his edge work and shiftiness that are exceptional.

 

[Bouboumaster]

He's slower but he's also stronger, and his edgework is freaking ridiculous.
And he's still way more faster than Weber.

 

[c3z4r]

How do all of these Habs fans know this information that PK bulked up during the summer?. Do you guys still follow him?





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I'm not sure why you're surprised that a lot of Habs fans kept up with Subban even after the trade. He was a very loved player in Montreal.

To answer your question though, he bulked up a lot while he was on the Habs. He was visibly slower during his lasts 2 seasons with us, especially the last one, and he was again slower with Nashville in his first year. Haven't watched too many Nashville games this season, so I don't know if he's been the same.

That said, it seems he's not missing his explosiveness and prefers relying on his strength instead, so maybe it was a good decision for his career.

 

[HOPE]

Subban was never fast, he has elite edgework.

 

[Habs76]

How do all of these Habs fans know this information that PK bulked up during the summer?. Do you guys still follow him?





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Many of us still follow P.K. more than our own team

 

[Lebowski]

How do all of these Habs fans know this information that PK bulked up during the summer?. Do you guys still follow him?





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That bulking up phase pre-dates the trade. It goes back to the 14-15 season IIRC.

 

[leafsfuture]

Many of us still follow P.K. more than our own team

Have close family who are big Habs fan and have to agree on this. They were cheering HARD for Nashville last year.

Like it or not PK will go down as this generations Montreal Canadiens lefend

 

[Habs76]

Have close family who are big Habs fan and have to agree on this. They were cheering HARD for Nashville last year.

Like it or not PK will go down as this generations Montreal Canadiens lefend

Yeah, I'm praying that when Subban's contract is up and the current regime is done for, maybe we'll get him back.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Players are at their best in terms of skating between 20-24 or so, and usually lose a half step or so in their mid to late 20s. The amount of experience they gain vastly outweighs the slight decline in physical ability, which is why their overall peaks(especially dmen) are still a bit later than their physical peak.

 

[Seb]

I wanna say edge work in this thread too

 

[Gene Parmesan]

People think he's fast just because he's a puck moving defenseman...

When he entered the league, he was fast, but since then he decided to bulk up as much as possible, which made him lost his speed.

You hear poster spout that Weber is slow (which is not true), but Subban isn't any faster

Weber is slower than Subban. Don't be a homer.

 

[JianYang]

His skating dipped a bit in Montreal, as he seemed to focus on strength.

He's not any less of a dman though, just a bit different. I dont think he's gotten any slower since joining the preds.

 

[Festinator]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but his edgework is very good.

 

[sr edler]

It’s all about the edgework.

 

[member 290103]

I think it gets progressively harder to skate as the size of your head grows. I suspect he will eventually be unable to stand upright.

 

[RickP]

About Subban putting on some muscle, I remember hearing him say recently he's "217 pounds of Canadian beef" or something like that. NHL.com has him at 210 pounds. So yeah, that extra weight definately affects his acceleration, but once he gets going, he's fine. He adjusted his game too.

The multiple injuries he had over a period of 6-7 months and the fact he had a short off-season last summer didn't help either.