Karl Subban is used to answering questions about his son, P.K. For years, it was P.K. who took centre stage in the family. Being named to his first NHL All-Star team, winning the Norris Trophy, capturing an Olympic gold medal, reaching the Stanley Cup Final, you name it – P.K. Subban did it. Finally, for the time being anyway, the spotlight is on another Subban.

Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Malcolm Subban starred Sunday night to earn his first ever NHL win with a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins, the very team that put him on waivers roughly two weeks before. His move to Vegas caught most of the league by surprise, but Karl found himself exhaling at Malcolm’s change of scenery.

“It wasn’t so much surprise, but happiness and relief… I was so happy and I felt at the time that it was the opportunity he needed,” Karl said of his second-oldest son Tuesday while in Toronto to promote his new book How We Did It.

Subban was drafted in 2012 but barely saw the ice at the NHL-level, playing in just two games. Still, there’s talent there.

He has tremendous athleticism for the goaltending position. At six-foot-two, 200 pounds, he’s bigger than most goalies and battles in the crease, never quitting on a play, according to TSN’s scouting report. Karl is hoping the Golden Knights are able to tap into that promise that made Boston take him in the first round. 

If the Bruins had their way, they wouldn’t have lost the 23-year-old netminder at all. Needing to clear a roster spot, they optioned Subban to Providence of the AHL, exposing him to waivers. He wasn’t on the open market long before Vegas claimed him.

“I had my fingers crossed that wasn’t going to happen. But that’s part of the business,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney told the Boston Herald.

It was the perfect revenge story for Subban when the Bruins visited T-Mobile Arena on Sunday. Most players would have been teeming with the opportunity to stick it to their former club, but not Malcolm. At least according to his father.

“I’m not sure how much that played a role in it but I’m quite sure that Malcolm wanted to go out there and prove to everybody – not just to the Bruins – that he’s an NHL goalie,” Karl said. “And I think that was probably an even bigger thing to prove it to himself.”

Obviously, he has a long, long way to go. But it’s a heck of a start.

With the Vegas franchise just five games old, the organization is looking to develop young goaltending. The injury to 32-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury and the trade of Calvin Pickard to the Toronto Maple Leafs have opened up the crease for Subban. All he has to do is consistently demonstrate something he’s done his entire life – stop shots.

Subban said Malcolm was passionate about playing goalie from Day 1, threatening to give up hockey altogether at one point if he wasn’t allowed to play between the pipes. When he played mini sticks in the hallway of the family home with his brothers P.K. and younger sibling Jordan? Goalie. Even when he played soccer? Goalie. It’s what he loves to do, his father said.

Now, he gets to do it with everybody watching.

 

Karl Subban was in Toronto Tuesday to promote his new book How We Did It. The ultimate hockey dad, Subban is a former school principal and father of five, including three sons – P.K., Malcolm and Jordan – who have been drafted to the NHL. Karl's inspirational and moving story follows the hockey journey from house league to the big leagues and shows how to grow the unlimited potential that is in every child.