PK Subban has found his next gig in hockey.
The three-time All-Star has joined ESPN as an NHL analyst on a multiyear contract, the network announced Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Subban will work primarily as a studio analyst for ESPN’s NHL coverage, while also serving as an in-game analyst for select regular-season games.
- He will make his season debut as a studio analyst in the coming weeks.
- Subban’s starting his full-time broadcasting career after retiring from a 13-year NHL career in September.
About that time 🙋🏿♂️ pic.twitter.com/o2chwisONE
— PK Subban (@PKSubban1) November 10, 2022
Backstory
During his playing career, Subban emerged as one of the NHL’s best defensemen with the Montreal Canadiens before stints with the Nashville Predators and New Jersey Devils. A Toronto native, Subban joined Montreal as a second-round draft pick in 2007. He had an immediate impact in his first full NHL season in 2010-11, recording 14 goals and 24 assists and making the league’s All-Rookie team.
Subban, 33, won the Norris Trophy as a 23-year-old with Montreal in 2013 and finished third in voting two other times. During his Norris Trophy campaign, he recorded 38 points in 42 games in a shortened season. In 2014, Subban became the highest-paid defenseman in the NHL, signing an eight-year, $72 million deal.
He played seven years for the Canadiens before a blockbuster trade sent him to the Predators in 2016. After three seasons in Nashville, Subban played his last three campaigns with the Devils, recording five goals and 22 points in 77 games in 2021-22.
Subban ended his career with 115 goals and 467 points in 834 games.
His switch to broadcasting full-time is no surprise. Over the summer, Subban worked for ESPN as an analyst for the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.
As part of his ESPN deal, Subban will host “PK’s Places” on ESPN+. “PK’s Places” will give fans a fun and interesting perspective on the history of hockey and the NHL as Subban visits some of his favorite people and places in the sport.
What they’re saying
“PK brings a fresh perspective to his analysis, having recently retired from the game, but he also draws on much more than just his experience on the ice, which gives him a unique, fun perspective that fans will love,” Mark Gross, ESPN senior vice president of production and remote events, said in a statement. “We have a great team of analysts, hosts and reporters, and adding PK to the mix just makes us that much better.”
What Subban brings to ESPN
No player in the modern NHL had a clearer understanding of media — legacy, as well as social — than Subban, who harnessed both with ease over his playing career. Intelligent, articulate and confident in front of a microphone, he elevated his brand and pushed the game towards new audiences.
In short: He made hockey fun. And because of that, it would be difficult to find a less-surprising announcement than the one made by ESPN on Thursday, when the network announced it had reached a multiyear agreement to get Subban in front of its audience. Getting the 33-year-old inside the studio — where he will do most of his work — is a coup for a company looking to grow its hockey reach in the United States. — Fitz-Gerald
Subban’s on-air perspective as a former player
Professional hockey players are, seemingly by design, boring conversationalists. They will dutifully get pucks in deep, give 110 percent, do the little things right and try to play a 200-foot game. If there was a bingo card of hockey clichés, it would be filled nightly around the NHL.
Subban did not follow that script. And now that he is on television full-time, he has the opportunity to offer a deeper perspective on hockey, both from a tactical aspect on the ice, but also in a broader sense. — the strange, stunted ecology of a dressing room, and the culture of the game.
Back in 2014, in an interview with National Post, he discussed the idea of conformity around the league: “I will never judge somebody because they want to be who they are. It’s not about being different. It’s not about being different from everybody else. It’s about being who you are.” — Fitz-Gerald
Why he chose ESPN
For years, Canadian sports media executives would smirk when asked if they coveted a post-retirement Subban for their airwaves. The expectation had long been that he would land in the wealthier pastures of US sports television.
In an interview with Sports Business Journal published on Thursday, Subban said he moved to ESPN in part because he already had experience working with its producers and on-air talent.
He also highlighted the fact ESPN is owned by Disney, telling the Journal, “So there’s a lot of opportunity there, and I look forward to exploring all those opportunities over the next three years.” — Fitz-Gerald
Required reading
(Photo: Paul Rutherford / USA Today)
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