Norris Worthy Performance
PK Subban has always garnered high praise, but his bubbly and effervescent personality has often obscured the opinion of many.
Ray Bourque praised Subban's play earlier in the season, suggesting he could see him turning into a Norris candidate one day in the future. Once his talents were properly harnessed, of course.
Little did the Bruins Hall-of-Fame defenseman know how soon that future would be.
Though he missed the first 6 games of the season for the Montreal Canadiens, as he and Marc Bergevin ironed out the details of what has turned out to be a steal of a deal, PK Subban has developed into elite defender right before our eyes.
Bruins fans might start with "Subban is a diver," but if Ray Bourque identified the potential in the Montreal blue-liner, well, that should be good enough for anyone.
While it seemed that Subban's welcome to the team by Michel Therrien was to hold him back at first, the maturity of the coach and his abilities to handle and harness the talents of his young stars proved a method to his madness as the Habs rear guard eased into play, watching his minutes steadily increase as he earned the trust of the coach.
Once fully caught up, Subban quickly became the target most opposing teams have come to recognize, yet no one truly accounted for what the presence of Andrei Markov would have on the former Belleville Bull.
History has shown that Subban was capable of being the team's number one, yet for the two years that PK earned his stripes in the NHL, he did so without the veteran presence of the Habs long-standing #1 blue-liner, Andrei Markov.
With #79's return to form, the impact of 76 + 79 on the Habs has been a major catalyst to the Canadiens enormous turnaround from last year's visit to the Eastern Conference cellar.
Point in case, Montreal's power play.
With 34 power play goals, the Canadiens have the most goals in the NHL on the man-advantage. Though that only has them 7th overall on the power play(21.9%), it's a big reason the Habs are among the highest scoring teams in the NHL.
The root of those 34 power play goals, though, lies in the dynamic between Subban and Markov on the points.
With 20 power play points apiece, Subban(6G/14A) and Markov(7G/13A) not only lead all dmen in power play points, but the entire NHL.
Though Markov bore the brunt of heavy minutes and the role of quarterback at the onset of the season, since PK has returned, the duo have provided JJ Daigneault the ability to balance out those heavy minutes among two top performers.
Lessons learned over the 31 games the duo have skated together with the Habs this season have yielded the most promising results out of Subban yet.
Since the start of March, and over the last 17 games, Subban has rocketed to the top of the scoring charts. Posting 7 goals and 14 assists for 21 points over that span, Subban has only seen less than 22 minutes once, while skating 25+ minutes seven times, including two 30+ minute performances. All to say that the increased workload has only lent to a more productive Subban, and a much stronger opponent in the Montreal Canadiens.
On a pace that would see him post 73 points in a 76 game season, what qualities and deficiencies young Pernell Karl once lacked seem to be mostly masked these days in part to the presence of the veteran Markov.
Though ice-time may be cause for debate over his candidacy for the Norris, now skating an average of 22:54 per game, Subban ranks 44th overall. Not that far from the top.
The most interesting impact comparison I came upon while reviewing Subban's performance this year lay in the fact that PK's performance has him pacing himself with Vancouver Canucks all-star forward, Daniel Sedin. Tied in goals(10), assists(20), points(30) and plus/minus(+12), to consider the Canadiens are getting a "Sedin-like" performance out of one of their defensemen, well, that speaks volumes of the value Subban's impact has had on the Habs. And while Daniel has Henrik, it's almost fair to say that Subban having Markov has provided an equal impact for Montreal.
Though PK may not be this year's Norris winner, he is certainly making a case for himself. Whatever the result of the individual awards may be, between Markov and Subban, the Montreal Canadiens know they are getting a Norris worthy performance out of the pair.
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Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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