P.K. Subban has gotten into a bad habit of slew-footing guys, and a skate clipping Sunday ended the season of one of his opponents.
Subban and the New Jersey Devils on Sunday fell to the New York Rangers in a shootout, but the bigger story was the defenseman hurting Sammy Blais. The Blueshirts bottom-sixer went to play a puck in the corner, but went down when Subban came up and clipped him.
Blais ended up with a torn ACL and is out for the season.
The play reignited declarations the Subban is a dirty player. But former referee Tim Peel insists that’s not the case.
“I can unequivocally say that PK Subban is not a dirty player,” Peel wrote in a tweet. “I talked to PK and he told me this is just a bad habit that has crept into his game. I refereed him and I know him personally and I can guarantee he is not trying to intentionally hurt any player.”
Two things.
One, Peel isn’t exactly in great standing with the NHL after his hot mic incident last season forced him into an early retirement. He was an NHL referee for a long time, but debate among yourselves how trustworthy he is right now.
Secondly, doesn’t it make it worse if Subban is aware of it, but somehow can’t stop doing it? Every player in the NHL is acutely aware that if you’re not careful, you can end up clipping a guy and bringing him down, even if you’re not outright slew-footing him. But it’s hard to believe at this point it’s a coincidence when it seems like every week Subban is getting him self in trouble for slew-footing someone.
