Just a few minutes after Zdeno Chara packed up his gear, P.K. Subban decided to do the same. The veteran defenseman has announced his retirement in a long Twitter post, which reads in part:
I remember my dreams of playing in the NHL and winning a Stanley Cup, similar to the guys on the Don Cherry Rock’em Sock’em tapes at the end of every volume, with the black eyes, broken bones, and tears of joy. To this day, I still dream about it.
However, the end of this chapter is closing and after 13 years in the NHL, I have made the decision to retire.
Subban, 33, never did get a chance to raise the Stanley Cup over his 834-game NHL career but was one of the best in the league for quite a while. The 2007 second-round pick burst onto the scene in 2010 as a high-flying rookie with the Montreal Canadiens, gaining fans and creating excitement every time he touched the puck. In his third season, he won the Norris Trophy, scoring 38 points in the shortened 2012-13 season while logging more than 23 minutes a night.
He would be a Norris finalist twice more. Once with the Canadiens in 2015 and once with the Nashville Predators in 2018, following his 2016 trade that shocked the hockey world.
Overall, Subban will finish his career with 467 points in 834 games, not exactly the numbers that you would have predicted if you only saw him play as a youngster in Montreal. The last few seasons have not been very kind to his high-risk, high-reward game, with just 59 points coming in 189 games with the New Jersey Devils.
Still, there was a time that Subban was among the very best in the league and there seems to be little doubt about his future as a broadcaster – given he has already dabbled in that side of the game over the years.
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