P.K. Subban Looks Like Guy New Jersey Devils Traded For

The New Jersey Devils made a huge splash at the NHL Draft when they traded for P.K. Subban. It took a month, but he finally looks like the top defenseman they hoped they were getting.

Trading for P.K. Subban was a move that was tenfold for the New Jersey Devils. Not only did they get the number-one defenseman they so desperately needed, they also got an ambassador for the team, a media darling that can be the face of Devils hockey in the Tri-State Area and he’s usually a player that makes everyone better just by keeping everyone loose.

Except, that’s exactly what didn’t happen in the first month of the season. Subban was making critical mistakes on the ice that cost the team. John Hynes was having trouble finding the right partner for him because it seemed like the chemistry was just off. He wasn’t even good enough to stick to the first power play unit. It was rough to say the least.

Fast forward to this week. Things feel a lot different in Jersey after getting eight points in the last six games. Things aren’t great, but they are much better than they were even on Friday night. And a lot of the turn around is thanks to Subban finally finding his stride.

Let’s take a look at some of the underlying numbers, and for this we will steal a tweet from Pucks and Pitchforks writer Tyler Kelley:

For those who need a translator, Subban has been great, above average, amazing, really good, great and good in the past six games in that order. That’s some serious consistency, which is what the Devils needed from Subban when he came over. There are games where Sami Vatanen looks like a number-one defenseman and games where Damon Severson can look like one. Neither of them can do it over an 82-game season, and most of the time it can’t last longer than a week. They needed a player who could do that for six months straight with nary a night off.

Subban had a lot of doubters when things weren’t going well to start the year. Some even exclaimed the Devils lost the trade, despite this being a three-year move and it only being one month into the deal. Heck, none of the players the Nashville Predators even got are in the NHL right now.

More from Pucks and Pitchforks

• Should New Jersey Devils Try Load Management With Vitek Vanecek?
• New Jersey Devils Will Prove That Last Year Wasn’t A Fluke
• New Jersey Devils: Luke Hughes’ Playmaking Will Outshine His Mistakes
• New Jersey Devils: Chase Stillman’s Performance Causes Concern
• Can Devils Fans Separate Zach Parise Heartbreak From Achievements?

Subban is who we thought we were getting. He’s playing extremely consistently right now. Does he still make a mistake here and there? Yes, but they are fewer and further between. He’s doing everything he can to help the Devils win.

He’s even getting his offense going. He scored his first real goal with the Devils (his first actual goal was an empty-net game). In the Devils current positive run, he’s scored points in half those games. That’s an acceptable number. We would like him to throw a multi-point game here and there, but this is at least acceptable from him especially if he sticks on the Devils second line power play.

Hynes is absolutely leaning on Subban right now. He’s played under 20 minutes in just one game this whole season. He’s played more than 24 minutes in four of the past six games. This is all happening, and it doesn’t look like he’s losing any steam.

On top of everything, Subban seems to be making Damon Severson better. Severson had a dreadful start to the year. His underlying numbers looked great in Carolina. At 5v5, where he spends his time with Subban, his CF% was 54.55 and his xGF% was 60.56 (all via Natural Stat Trick). To translate that, they were driving play much more often than they were being driven on.

It took a little longer than we hoped, but Subban is finally playing like the player the Devils needed. This could be the main reason this team actually makes a run now that things are back to where we hoped they were going.