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Poor PK. They silenced him!!
NASHVILLE—So Brad Hunt is sitting there, next to P.K. Subban’s empty locker, looking at a ring of reporters waiting for a player who won’t come. Hunt is an extra for the Nashville Predators, and he’s been sitting next to P.K. since January, more or less. He’s cheerful.
“It’s good to have,” he says, looking at the empty semi-circle. “It means you went far in the playoffs. It’s fun. It’s cool to have.” Someone asks if he has met a bigger personality in hockey than Subban.
“I don’t think so,” says Hunt. “But it’s good. He brings the energy up all the time. He keeps everything exciting.”
This isn’t really a story about the media. On the morning of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final, in which the Pittsburgh Penguins had a chance to win a second straight Stanley Cup, Nashville’s P.K. Subban skated. The NHL’s media rules say if a player skates, he must be made available. Reporters like talking to P.K. because he is one of the few hockey players who tries to entertain, who is not afraid to show his personality. Besides, Subban had not spoken since after Game 5, two days earlier. So, a ring of us waited for him. Standard issue.
Subban walked into the crowded dressing room and started towards the ring of media at his locker, and was heard to ask team PR director Kevin Wilson, “Do you want me to talk today?” Wilson directed Subban back out of the room for a moment, and then Subban walked through the room and didn’t stop.
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The team’s explanation: Gosh, they had meant to make Subban available on Saturday, but dagnabbit, he slipped away before they could. And he had not spoken on the morning of a game all playoffs, so their hands were tied, see? Some falsehoods are barely worth telling, but there you are.
Again, this only seems like a media story. You would think a sport would want its biggest and most marketable stars to be front and centre at its showcase event, but hey, none of Pittsburgh’s best players have spoken on the morning of games all playoffs long. Putting your stars in front of cameras is, or should be, sports marketing 101.
But the NHL’s media approach pales next to that of pretty much every other major league in its championship round. The day after the Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 3, LeBron James sat at a podium and gave insightful answers about several issues. He speaks on game days, too, except when it’s an early west coast tip time, with no shootaround. It’s not that hard. This? This was absurd.
In fairness, NHL officials tried to lobby for Subban to talk, to no avail. The Predators organization, before the biggest game in franchise history, muzzled one of its best players. Subban loves cameras. The team — and you could guess this came from above the PR director level — said no.
So really, this is a story about P.K. At the end of Game 3 he sought out Sidney Crosby and cursed him out, then made up the gag about Crosby accusing Subban of bad breath. Crosby was annoyed. Subban kept hammering the storyline: bringing Listerine to the rink, and even sending out a sponsored tweet about the mouthwash. He really can’t help himself.
And then Crosby was great in Game 4, and a monster in Game 5, and the team shut Subban up. There are strong whispers that his teammates weren’t happy with his behaviour, which might help explain it. Would Crosby have been great if Subban hadn’t poked the bear? Quite possible: he’s Sidney Crosby. But clearly, the team wasn’t happy.
Which is so, so hockey. Subban has been great in these playoffs, but the Montreal Canadiens traded him because he drives people nuts. The trade has been a dominant storyline all season, and it seems clear that Nashville won.
But yes, living with Subban for a year would probably be exhausting, and sometimes enervating. Off the ice, he is all about P.K. In the NBA he could be absorbed into a team’s culture. But especially in hockey’s stultifying, suppressive environment, Subban stands out like a klieg light in a cave.
Before the Stanley Cup final began, Predators general manager David Poile was asked about trading for Subban. Here’s what he said.
“We obviously heard a lot about things that happened in Montreal, some good, maybe some not so good,” said Poile. “The first meeting we had, like, ‘What are your goals?’ He said, ‘To win the Stanley Cup.’ I said, ‘That’s what our goals are, too.’
“If we can get that straightened away in terms of your desires to be the best hockey player you can be, and we can both work towards winning the Stanley Cup together, we’ve got mostly everything covered ... I think the most important thing is that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing so there’s no surprising and, to repeat again, we can support you.
“I don’t want to say it was as simple as that, but I think it was as simple as that ... I think from day one we’ve been on the same page with P.K. as to his off-ice ventures. I don’t think there’s been any missteps. I don’t think there’s been any misunderstandings. That’s why I think it’s been a good fit for both of us.”
And then on the morning of the biggest game of the season, we all stared at an empty locker. P.K. is interesting; P.K. is exciting. But P.K. was P.K., and it was too much.
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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee
It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.
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