New Jersey Devils: 5 Most Important Players When They Return To The Ice

4. P.K. Subban

P.K. Subban’s start to the season has been less than ideal. He’s better than last season, but that’s not a high bar to climb. He’ll have these decent games where he looks like he should be able to hold down a top-line role, but then he’ll have these atrocious games where he is doing nothing to help his goalies. Those terrible games will tank his advanced stats overall.

Subban was always a little inconsistent, even in his Norris Trophy contention years, but this is a little ridiculous. Most know I will do my best to defend Subban, but there are nights he makes that impossible.

There are times when Ryan Murray struggled with his role in the Lindy Ruff system, but more times than not, he’s helped Subban immensely. There’s something here with that pairing, but the Devils need Subban to just eliminate at least half of his mistakes. He looks a lot better on the ice. Last season, he just seemed like he lost a lot of his quickness and agility that made him a special talent. It’s not all back, but it seems a lot of his issues have to do with decision making and not with a lack of talent. He’s able to make up for some of his mistakes and can still take away 2-on-1s. He can make beautiful passes to spring a player for a breakaway. He needs to do that more often than not.

Subban is one of the few players who didn’t end up on the COVID-19 protocol list. That means he’s been able to at least find ways to work out, even if it wasn’t at the facility. He didn’t have to deal with symptoms, and he didn’t need to isolate himself. Subban was also given the “A” on his jersey, and he seemed to react well to the responsibility. He likely won’t get that opportunity again with Zajac and Palmieri returning, but it’s good to know he is working on getting better.