New Jersey Devils: P.K. Subban Needs To Stop Tripping People

The headline may be a little tongue in cheek, but it’s not wrong. New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban has not been close to what the team hoped they were getting two years ago, but his $9 million salary aside, he can still bring some sort of value to the lineup. He still eats minutes, and his eroded skill is still higher than a lot of third-line defensemen in the league. There’s one major issue. He’s added this strange move to his arsenal that’s dangerous and unnecessary. It’s an easy penalty call and can start to injure opposing players.

Subban was fined on Wednesday for this trip on Calgary Flames forward Milan Lucic.

This play is just dumb. It’s right in front of the referee, and it’s one of the most obvious penalties in the game. The only more obvious penalty is the delay of game, and that’s because it’s impossible to argue. This is a tripping penalty, and it’s deserved.

The Flames instantly scored on the ensuing power play. That made it 3-0 and ended the night for rookie Nico Daws. His great debut against the Buffalo Sabres was unraveled in 10 minutes of ice time, and now the Devils are ready to ride Scott Wedgewood again. Subban’s dumb penalty changed this game from a deficit to an insurmountable hole. 10 minutes into the game, it was over.

Sure, the Devils could have killed the penalty, but they were in the offensive zone when Subban got the penalty. He took a chance to score away from the Devils and handed it to Flames. They didn’t need help. They were scoring fine on their own.

Subban was fined $5,000 for his trip on Lucic. It was deserved. That looks like a clear slew foot and it looks like it’s not a mistake at all. It is also hard to give Subban the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a preseason trip on Ryan Reeves. That one seemed like a mistake, and it almost really injured Reeves before the season, but now this incident causes us to ask new questions.

Subban needs to remove this “move” from his arsenal. The wide stance skating does nothing to add to his offensive game, but it will lead to him being in the penalty box and the Devils going on the kill. The PK is still not good, and this is especially true when P.K. is in the box. If an errant stick ends up tripping someone, it is what it is. Hockey is a fast game and these things happen when you’re working in the margins. That’s not what is happening with Subban. He has to make better decisions.