P.K. Subban was just a little ahead of his time

Hockey can't seem to see its need for a great player. The ethos that no player can stand out or be above the team keeps the game from being vibrant. The game is sold by the personality and liveliness of the players. The need to blend in as the first priority keeps players from speaking out against things that are not right, but we will do so again soon. People like to tune in for their personality and liveliness. The best player in the world has a place where he can eat white bread and American cheese if he doesn't cosplay.

P.K. Subban might have been that guy. Fans were happy when he seemed to rule over the game. The hockey men should not fool you. The fans in Montreal and Nashville were fond of the player. The majority of hockey fans did, and those who didn't had obvious reasons for it. It wasn't possible not to. He was large and strong. He had the game to win. It was too early in the NHL game's evolution to have that type of game.

Subban's high-risk, high-reward, yeehaw style of play made him unpopular with two of Montreal's other coaches. Habs fans, who always have romanticized players who just streaked up the ice with the puck, couldn't get enough of Subban cowboying Subban's signature was to wheel around behind his own net, getting such a lean that he would take one hand off his stick to balance on the ice. He beat two forecheckers and sent the Habs the other way. The man was a human.

Subban had a great season in which he collected 38 points in 42 games, but the season was shortened due to the lockout. Subban had 52 points and metrics well above the team rate as the Habs got to a conference final, the best they would do in his time there. It earned Subban a call to the Canadian Olympic team, though Mike Babcock wouldn't trust him with more than one game. The lines were easy to read between blubbering about responsibility and trust. Fuck Dan. For a good cause.

Subban was a big fan of the Montreal faithful. Subban was a great man. If you can find a hockey fan who wasn't brought to tears by Subban's charity work, he opened his own children's wing at the hospital.

Thank you very much, P.K. The P.K. Subban Foundation was started by the Montreal Habs defenceman.

As he was on the ice, he was electric. Look at this guy.

As things deteriorated at the Centre Bell, it was too easy for coach and captain, Max Pacioretty, to point a finger at a guy who was always on the screen or couldn't read. Since he drove Subban out of Montreal, Patches hasn't done anything except get hurt and watch his team fail, which is exactly what he deserved. Hockey has always found it easy to ostracize players who stick out in other ways.

Subban was traded to Nashville, who immediately embraced him, allowed him to turn their game up to 11, and they made their only Stanley Cup final on the back of their ability to turn the volume up.

The Predator tradition of never having more than one genuine top-line forward on the squad led to the downfall in Music City. Subban's metrics were still pretty good. When things go wrong, the Preds combined a southern tradition of blaming the black guy with a hockey tradition. TheDevils have been for a decade or more now and he was sent to New Jersey just two seasons later.

Hockey has sped up in the past few years and every team wants a Subban. You don't have time to pass the puck around your zone to leave. A man who can wheel it out on his own. Every team is trying to find their own player. Every night, Roman and Quinn are let off the leash, even though they are as important as anyone. Subban would be among them if he were 10 years younger.

Subban would have drawn more attention to the game. Hockey is not ready for the kind of person Subban could be, but it is getting there. Subban wouldn't have been iced out because of being Subban. How can they get on to his social media?

Hockey did become what it was because of a view of what Subban had. It could use it.