P.K. Subban shoots himself in the foot, shuts down chances to get traded

P.K. Subban’s name has come up in trade chatter in recent weeks, however it might all come to a halt. Not only as his overall play has declined in recent seasons, but his focus on hockey seems almost inexistent. In Montreal, the hockey blog Dans Les Coulisses pointed out that the New Jersey Devils defenseman recently took part in a TV show called LOL Last One Laughing on Amazon Prime Video in a scene in which he can be seen in a thong, pretending to pee at the back on a room with what looks like a Detroit Red Wings fake lookalike jersey.

You have to admit that Subban, who is already hard to sell on the trade market with his statistics and his whopping eight-year, $72-million contract he signed with the Montreal Canadiens in 2014, is not doing himself or Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald any favours here…

Subban is 32 years old and has declined as an offensive force: he has tallied just four goals and 19 points in 58 games this season. There is no way Fitzgerald will convince any team to acquire Subban at his current $9-million salary, especially when folks talk about him for his TV work and his slew-footing bad habits.

“I sat down with P.K. yesterday, and we talked about uncertainty, and the deadline, and that we’re not at a spot where we’re looking to extend him at this point,” Fitzgerald recently told the Athletic. “He’s done a lot for community here and the organization. But I told him, ‘On the last day (before the trade deadline), somebody may lose a right-shot ‘D’ and may call me, and if the move makes sense for the New Jersey Devils and makes sense for you to potentially have a chance to win, I have to do what’s best for the organization.”

There is no doubt that Subban is a great guy that does a lot for others. Just this week, he said he will match all donations made to Montreal Children’s Hospital calls for public donations in aid of young Ukrainian cancer patients.

But he needs to focus on hockey, especially if he wants to be taken seriously. Because at the moment, I can’t imagine any rival club attempting to trade for him prior to the deadline even if New Jersey retains half of his pay check.