“I don’t think I’d ever imagined taking my shirt off in front of 70,000 people.” — P.K. Subban
TORONTO – James Neal glances over at the claustrophobic cluster of press passes, notepads and flash mics huddled around the defencemen’s bank of lockers and cracks a joke.
“Pretty big crowd for Josi today,” the sniper smirks.
However unjust, what with Roman Josi being Nashville’s most-played and most well-rounded defenceman and with the blazing-hot Neal being in the throes of a four-game goal-scoring streak, the vast majority of media aren’t here for them.
They’d rather interview the new guy before his first game on Canadian ice since The Trade.
They’re here for the local boy’s $72-million smile and the quotes that write the column for you. They’re here to slap another page on a narrative destined to colour this season when two of the best and most different defencemen on the planet were uncomfortably exchanged for one another on June 29.
Mostly, they’re here for the self-trademarked posterboy of personality in a sport that purposely strips its practitioners of flavour.
It comes as no shock, then, that P.K. Subban of the Nashville Predators approves of clean-cut Toronto Maple Leafs rookies Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews singing along to Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer mid-game, as they did a couple weeks ago.
“Keep doing it. More power to ’em,” Subban says. “They’re in their first or second year in the league, just go enjoy it. They’ve got lots of time to learn. Have fun. I remember my first couple years in the league, I was always at my best when I just went out there and played the game. You learn as you make mistakes.
“They should be singing. They’re playing in a great city for a great organization. How many kids dream at 18, 19 years old of playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs? They’re living the dream. At 18, if I was in that situation, I’d be singing Bon Jovi as well.”
Subban, 27, has wasted no time singing both kinds of music — country and western — since the trade, rattling into Music City like a mechanical bull in a guitar shop.
If he’s not belting out karaoke or flying his Montreal friends down to cruise the Broadway Strip, he’s co-producing his own HBO special (airing this weekend) or riling up football fans as the Tennessee Titans’ 12th man.
Let's gooooooo #firedup @Titans @PredsNHL pic.twitter.com/2082eDX4xX
— P.K. Subban (@PKSubban1) October 23, 2016
So what if he’s really a Dallas Cowboys junkie?
“Pretty spectacular,” Subban says of his favourite Nashville moment so far. “I don’t think I’d ever imagined taking my shirt off in front of 70,000 people. I don’t know if that’ll ever happen again.”
Perhaps, but we won’t take that bet.
They say it’s the personality, not the Norris Trophy winner’s performance, that nudged him out of town. Yet to a man, the Preds say Subban has been a wonderful fit off the ice.
“All styles are needed in a room. He brings passion and energy to the game. That’s a good thing. It can be contagious, too,” says elder statesman Mike Fisher, who assumed the captaincy when Shea Weber left.
“Some guys need to come out of their shell a bit more, like him. Hockey guys are known for being laid-back. I’m not like his personality, but that’s fine. Everyone’s different.”
Coach Peter Laviolette says Subban keeps spirits high and is a big reason why the Preds, a trendy Stanley Cup favourite, have been able to dig themselves out of an early hole and take a three-game win streak into Ontario.
“A good influence on the team,” the coach says. “He’s a big part of what we do and how we do it.”
On the ice, the how has been tricky.
Subban began the season in an all-star pairing with Josi, but the sum was less than its parts. Both skillsy D-men prefer to lead the rush and are capable of breaking open a game with offensive gambits.
“We’ve got so many D that play like P.K., it’s a bit of an adjustment,” Fisher explains. “It was always Roman who was the guy, and Shea would be back.”
The workhorse Subban has since been coupled with Mattias Ekholm for better results, yet there is much space for improvement at even strength. Five of Subban’s eight points have come with the man advantage, and he’s propelled Nashville to the best power-play rate in the West — 24.1 per cent, up from 19.7 per cent in 2015-16. (Win-win: Montreal’s PP has also risen significantly since the trade.)
“Sometimes chemistry is underrated. I’m starting to build that now with my teammates,” says Subban, giving a stick-tap to Nashville’s Hall of Fame blue line coach, Phil Housley. “Getting used to a brand-new partner, it’s different for me.”
Subban talks of “the transition,” of missing his friends, and rooting for his old teammates in Montreal. He preaches the power of positive belief and smiles when he discusses drawing boos in Western Conference barns, like the Madhouse in Chicago — “and I don’t even play there that much.”
In Subban’s mind, embracing the difficult is the only path. And how much more uneasy does it get for a competitor, watching across the border in mustard clothes as your old pals in Montreal leap to a franchise-record start, your quiet replacement fitting in seamlessly?
“I’m a firm believer that you have to make yourself uncomfortable and learn to produce and execute at a high level when you’re uncomfortable,” Subban says.
“A lot of things being said, a lot of pressure: The best players always find a way to break through that. The best athletes have to learn how to play in a hostile environment. That’s why they’re the best—they’re able to break through it.”
So they sing when everyone’s listening, and when they’re no longer wanted in the centre of the hockey universe, well, they find a new home and set about making things work.
“It’s not just honkytonk central. That’s fun for all the tourists,” says P.K. Subban, happy resident of Nashville, Tenn. “The locals don’t really go there.”
