Rumors surrounding P.K. Subban won’t stop despite the New Jersey Devils desire to market him.
The New Jersey Devils made a huge splash at the NHL Draft last year when they traded for former Norris Trophy winning defenseman P.K. Subban. He was coming off an injury-riddled year with the Nashville Predators, and the Preds wanted to spend big money they didn’t have to sign Matt Duchene. So, they needed someone to take on Subban’s $9 million salary. David Poile called old friend Ray Shero, and a deal was made.
The Devils gave the Predators two 2nd-round picks, prospect Jeremy Davies, and Steve Santini for Subban. It looked like a slam dunk right off the bat. It was basically Slamball once Subban hit the ice.
Nobody can argue Subban was good last season. He led the Devils in high-danger chances allowed despite not leading the Devils in minutes played. The Devils thought they were getting a top defenseman who could score. Subban did neither of these things. Just two seasons ago, Subban had 59 points. This season, he put up 18. What’s scarier is he only had six powerplay points. He was supposed to come in and make things very hard for the Devils when discussing Will Butcher, Damon Severson, Sami Vatanen, and Ty Smith on the power play. Here’s how those powerplay points broke down:
Severson: 10
Vatanen: 10
Subban: 6
Butcher: 1 (how is this possible)
Smith: 0 (but he had 21 for the Spokane Chiefs)
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Obviously, this isn’t what the Devils wanted. Also obviously, this is going to lead to rumors the Devils want to move on from Subban. There might be fire with this smoke, but it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to trade Subban now.
Subban’s value is at an all-time low. The rumors, which haven’t been verified from sources we trust, say the Devils are willing to retain salary in a deal for Subban. So, the Devils would have to take on a minimum of $2 million, but more likely $4 million of Subban’s $9 million salary, in order to get a small package of picks or middling prospects.
This just isn’t worth it. Subban has the ability and the talent to bounce back. He’s over 30, but by just over a year. This isn’t a 38-year-old defenseman. This is a 31 year old who has been one of the top defenders in hockey just two years ago.
There were some positives from Subban last season. Number one, he stayed healthy all season. John Hynes and later Alain Nasreddine played him more than 17 minutes per game. It’s not the 20 minutes he played in his prime, but he was on pace to play over 1,400 minutes if the season was a full 82 games.
Beyond all that, Subban has not only been the Devils media darling, but he’s a spokesperson for the NHL. When the league wants to promote NHL ’21 with EA Sports, they use Subban. A game show to try to give fans something to watch during a pandemic was hosted by Subban. Subban’s podcast had NHL commissioner Gary Bettman as his first guest. Putting a prominent New Jersey Devils player in the national spotlight like that has value.
There’s also the issue with optics. How will incoming players feel about the Devils putting out all the pomp and circumstance that came with bringing Subban in, just to flip him the second it doesn’t work out? The Devils already have trouble signing free agents. An issue with loyalty will only make that impossible.
The Devils have much bigger problems than the need to get Subban off the roster. He’s not a “locker room cancer” like people have described other players in the past. His social media usage might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s hardly a distraction to the rest of the guys. His whole shtick is fine. Trading him for nothing but lost cap space is not necessary. That is, unless the Devils are looking to sign another right-handed defenseman in free agency.