PK Subban - what went wrong and can he recover?

[KovalchukFistPump]

PK Subban has always been a bit of a controversial figure. He's a colorful personality in a league that values cliched interview answers and building teams around hard-working, strong silent types. A lot of fans on the Devils board defend his play and say he wasn't that bad last year. This article is a little bit eye opening though:

https://elitesportsny.com/2020/03/31/nhlpa-votes-new-jersey-devils-p-k-subban-as-one-of-the-games-worst-for-a-category/

"Following the GAR logic established, Subban effectively ranked 298th in the league… out of 298 defensemen. His WAR and SPAR were also the worst among the league’s defensemen. Looking outside of these above-replacement stats, his xGF/60 ranked 94th among the 141 defencemen to play at least 800 minutes this season. His xGA/60 ranked 125th. His CF/60 was in the bottom-45, his CA/60 was in the bottom-15, and xGF%/60 was the fifth-worst in the league."

Some advanced stats show what most fans believe. He was putrid on the ice. After watching other defensemen like Chara, Burns, and Giordano become better with age, it is pretty depressing watching the Devils' big acquisition have his play free-fall at age 30. Do the detractors of his personality have a point? There have been lots of opinions go around that you don't win with a guy like him. He certainly seemed more interested in building his brand and keeping up social media appearances than putting in the work last year. Maybe a long offseason and a renewed commitment to excelling at hockey can make him at least be a decent player this year (albeit never worth a 9M salary).

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[Mickey Marner]

He's a flawed defenseman that lost his explosiveness. He needs to revamp how he plays the game and focus on passing and positional play, rather than skating.

 

[Toene]

He's agile but not quick enough. Moving the puck was his bread and butter and you can't do it when you're a snail on the ice. And when he pinches offensively, he cannot recover quick enough so he creates an odd-man rush or a breakaway.

He wasn't a speed demon even at his peak, but it's the tool that made everything else in his immense skillset click together. I really wish he would drop some weight and work on pure speed/acceleration, it would lengthen his career.

 

[lamp9post]

He's a flawed defenseman that lost his explosiveness. He needs to revamp how he plays the game and focus on passing and positional play, rather than skating.

This sounds about right. One of my frustrations with him while he was a Hab was that he would hang on to the puck too long after gaining possession in the defensive zone and miss opportunities to outlet the puck. Wingers were left at a stand-still, hanging on the side boards as he'd skate the puck up the ice. I can only imagine as his skating diminished, this became a bigger and bigger problem.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Lost his great first step, either to injury or age or both. When you rely almost entirely on that power skating explosiveness losing even a fifth of it is going to make you a much less effective hockey player.

Saw it with Iginla in Calgary. So much of what made him elite was his ability to beat defenders wide by over powering them. One day late in 2011 he lost that and was forced to curl on the half boards basically every time rather than driving the net. It was simply gone and never came back. He was still good but was never the elite powerforward he was for much of his career again. PK can still be a competent top 4 guy but his days of being a top 30 defender in the NHL are over. The quicker he realizes that and stops trying to be the better it will go for him IMO.

 

[holy]

He looked hella chunky in that bikini pic. Also he wears bikinis.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Lindsay Vonn.

 

[Esq]

When your legs go, unless you change your game, you're done.

 

[brentashton]

Lindsay Vonn.

If that's whats wrong with him, I hope i can be really f***ed up!

 

[Rabid Ranger]

If that's whats wrong with him, I hope i can be really f***ed up!

Lol.

 

[Habby4Life]

He was overrated during his time him MTL. He was good but IMO not an elite D. Anyway, it looks like he has lost a step and doesn’t have the overall game to compensate.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

When your legs go, unless you change your game, you're done.

Lindsay could give P.K. that advice!

 

[predfan24]

I think he confuses some people with regards to his skating. He is amazing on his edges, however his explosiveness/speed has regressed to a point where he is a big time liability when he is aggressive and caught out of position. He needs to tranistion to a positional D-man that makes good breakout passes and utilizes his one-timer. When he gets to aggressive in the O-zone or pretends he's Bobby Orr skating out from behind his own net is when he gets in trouble.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Subban probably isn't a very good player anymore but the reason his GAR was so poor is because the offensive component of GAR uses regression analysis of on-ice goals for even strength and the power play, and Subban had a ridiculously low on-ice shooting percentage in both situations.

 

[Techcoockie]

I'm sure next season he will bounce back due to his heavy explosive training + diet, he looks completely changed physically.

 

[Crunchrulz]

Lindsay Vonn.

All joking aside, it might well be she is far more than most of us imagine. Tiger had a lapse while he was dating her as well. Then again, the way she looks, who in their right mind would NOT have other things on their mind if they were fortunate enough to walk beside her.

 

[weinsink]

Overrated....overpaid,but snagged all he could from the scabs and laughed all the way to the bank

 

[Wats]

Funny thing is in the past, he's always been one of those defensemen that analytics showed to be elite (while people said he was bad defensively).

Hopefully he bounces back to at least being a solid top 4 D.

 

[Soundgarden]

Couple major back and neck injuries plus he put on weight training and lost some speed and effectiveness.

Great guy, hope he gets it back, but his last season in Nashville was frustrating.

 

[A1LeafNation]

He looked hella chunky in that bikini pic. Also he wears bikinis.

Why the hell did you make me have to Google this.

Damn you!!!

 

[Jee]

He got traded from Montréal, he was never the same after. He bleeds bleu blanc rouge.

 

[Jigger77]

I'm sure next season he will bounce back due to his heavy explosive training + diet, he looks completely changed physically.

That will help, no doubt. But just based on my personal experience and on my personal opinion when you get older you have to adapt and play smarter instead of harder. PK's game is flashy. He tries to do a lot by himself, tries to beat guys 1 on 1, relies on athleticism a lot etc. As you get older you can get caught chasing the play playing this way. He needs to look at what guys like Markov, Lidstrom, Bourque, Chara etc were doing on the ice in their 30s. They weren't flashy, they relied on sound positioning, anticipated the game, used their teammates etc. Try to let the game come to you a bit more. Make simple, solid plays. Guys who are excellent at this seem to almost slow the game down. I think that's where he needs to go, personally.

 

[Soundgarden]

He got traded from Montréal, he was never the same after. He bleeds bleu blanc rouge.

Eh, he was just as good in his first two years in Nashville.

 

[Jee]

Eh, he was just as good in his first two years in Nashville.

doubt it

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Subban made a poor decision to bulk up and as a result lost his straight away speed. In junior and during his first several years in the NHL, he was a dynamic skater who could avoid the first forechecker and with his superior skating ability was able to easily gain entry into the offensive zone. He was dynamic player who could control the flow of play. Then he bulked up and lost one of his greatest assets: on ice speed. It was apparent to any watching that he was quickly regressing to the his now almost immobile self. It was laughable that so many fans blamed coaching from holding him back. Frankly, Montreal traded him almost two years too late.