This is it! The final two teams remain to battle for the 2022 Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, for the New York Rangers, my hometown team, the season is over as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated them. Let me be clear. I am in no way a fan of hockey or any other sport for that matter except maybe for basketball when the Warriors are playing! (Go Curry!). I am a fan of Black men and women who leave their footprints on the various sports map where people of color particularly Black people are not widely represented. Mind you, I was writing this post while the TV in my living room was on, and the 2022 Stanley Cup Championship was getting underway. My husband was tuned in, not me! So why am I talking about hockey?
Why Hockey?
I’m writing about hockey because an announcement was made rather blanketly during the sports news. I wanted to highlight another Black hockey player as I did in a previous post. I wrote an article about Willie O’Ree, Canadian ice hockey player now 86 years old who was the first the first Black NHL player who played for the Boston Bruins. What a learning experience that was for me. I never knew Black professional hockey players existed. This is an example of how the history of accomplishments of people of color are hidden while others are celebrated. As an honorable mention in this post, O’Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 and in 2022 the league retired his jersey.
Statistically Speaking
Let me share some NHL statistics. For a long time, the only black seen in the game of hockey was the puck! I have learned that there are many more Black hockey players now than there have ever been. There are several reasons why there are so few Black hockey players. Demographics and geography as well as socioeconomics are the most simple and important reasons. The NHL is approximately 50% Canadian. Canada is about 2.5% Black. According to a USA Today report, 97% of the NHL is white, with the remaining 3% made up of people of other races. Twenty-six of the remaining ethnicities–or 3% of the players–are Black. Six of the twenty-six Black hockey players currently playing in the NHL are African Americans, the rest are Canadian. Prominent examples are P.K. Subban and his brother Malcolm, Jarome Iginla, Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Okposo, and Seth Jones.
So, What’s the Story?
Recently, while the sports news played in the background, again I learned of another Black professional hockey gem that I want to highlight. The announcer was reporting on an individual who has not only made an impact on hockey, but also on humanity.
Who was this Black man whose face suddenly appeared on the TV screen? Pernell-Karl Sylvester Subban, aka P.K., that’s who! P.K. is a Canadian professional ice hockey player born in 1989 in Toronto, Ontario. He was drafted 43rd overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2nd round of the 2007 entry draft. He has signed three contracts worth a total value of $80,375,000. Over a career that spans thirteen seasons (with at least 1 NHL GP), he has a total 467 Pts in 834 GP, and 62 playoffs Pts in 96 GP. P.K. Subban is the New Jersey Devils’ number 76 defenseman who just became the first NJ Devils player to win the King Clancy Memorial Trophy!
The trophy was presented to the NHL by the Board of Governors in 1988 to honor the late Francis M. “King” Clancy, a former Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs player, as well as an NHL referee, coach and general manager who was part of Toronto’s first Stanley Cup-winning team in 1932. The King Clancy Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.
Still fascinated about what I was hearing, I was taken back to my post about O’Ree, and I wanted to learn more about yet another Black man who plays in the NHL. What I learned was that P.K. Subban is one of the NHL’s most generous players to his community.
On June 7, 2022, the 13-year veteran was recognized as the league’s leader in humanitarian efforts. Along with this honor, a $25,000 donation will be made to the charity or charities of his choice. This was the fourth straight season in which P.K. was named one of the three finalists and the first time in his career he won the award. P.K. is the first winner of the trophy in Devils history. Amazing!
P.K.’s Contributions
- P.K. continues his philanthropy in Montreal and Nashville, the previous cities he has played in during his career. He began the Blueline Buddies program in Nashville and expanded it to Newark when he joined the Devils in 2019.
- Among the tireless community efforts by P.K. was the start of the P.K. Subban Foundation in 2014, which aims to create positive change through building a community of people who are passionate about helping children around the globe. P.K. made a $10 million pledge to the Montreal Children’s Hospital in 2015 and a gift of $1 million in March for the hospital’s new mental health clinic, named “Le SPOT”.
- P.K. partnered with the hospital this past spring to match donations up to $100,000 for Ukrainian cancer patients displaced from the ongoing war in that area.
P.K.’s brother Malcolm Subban, who played for the Boston Bruins, received racist taunts while he played. This is the experience of many Black athletes past and present. For reasons not limited to negative attack, P.K. seeks change. He has been a strong voice in the NHL’s efforts for social equality. P.K. was named co-chair of the Player Inclusion Committee (PIC) under the newly formed Executive Inclusion Council (EIC), comprised of NHL owners, former players, and team and league executives.
In addition to P.K.’s numerous contributions, he helped design the Black History Month warmup jerseys worn by the Devils on February 28, which were later auctioned off for nearly $20,000 for the Devils Youth Foundation and the P.K. Subban Foundation. He also made a $50,000 donation to the fundraiser for Gianna Floyd, the young daughter of George Floyd, following his May 2020 murder in the custody of law enforcement officers.
Cracking the Ice
Despite the lack of Black representation in the NHL, P.K. Subban, Willie O’Ree and other players of color are “cracking the ice” in the NHL world and off the ice through their contributions to the game of hockey and humanitarianism. Often, we treat those around us as though they are not fellow human beings. If everyone on this earth allowed themselves to recognize their own humanity as well as that of others, many of the issues we face in our world today would cease to exist.
P.K. Subban is one of hockey’s biggest names and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer for the first time in his career. Currently, P.K.’s salary is $8,000,000 and his cap hit is $9,000,000 for the 2021-22 season. Whatever happens on P. K.’s journey to unrestricted free agency, let’s see if there will be opportunities that afford him options reflective of his worth, considering the skills and value he brings on and off the ice.