P.K. Subban is an unrestricted free agent after season’s end. So, let’s take a look at the trade, and the pieces that were involved in the New Jersey Devils’ and Nashville Predators’ trade. The trade happened during the second day of the 2019 NHL Draft and was a minor blockbuster. Subban’s name was on the trade block, but New Jersey wasn’t expected to be a front-runner. After drafting Jack Hughes first overall, it was the most exciting moment of the draft for Devils’ fans.
Now, two years later the trade hasn’t paid dividends. Subban, while being able to play in most situations and eat up minutes, hasn’t regained that Norris Trophy form we saw with the Montreal Canadiens. Then again, the team as a whole has struggled around him. Remember when everyone though he was going to go on a, “P.K. Subban Revenge Tour,” last season after his breakup with Lyndsay Vonn? Yeah, that never happened.
What about the pieces the Devils sent off? New Jersey gave the Predators a nice little package of two second round picks and two prospects. Even if the pieces weren’t Earth-shattering, it was still four separate pieces. In theory, Nashville might have been able to get more for Subban, but his cap-hit may have prevented that. New Jersey was able to take on his whole contract. Due to that, Subban might have been sold at a “discount.” Two years later, let’s look at where are they now.
The Prospects
The two prospects sent over to Music City were defensemen Steven Santini and Jeremy Davies. Santini had a decent body of NHL work with the Devils. Even if he wasn’t a regular in the lineup, he did play in 114 NHL games between 2015 and 2019 with New Jersey.
Davies was a seventh-round pick in the 2016 draft. He played three years of college hockey at Northeastern University before signing and turning professional with the Devils. He was traded that summer so never appeared at the NHL with them.
Neither Santini nor Davies have had much success in Nashville. Santini spent basically one year in Nashville, only appearing in two NHL games while staying at the AHL-level for most of his tenure. In October of 2020, Santini was placed on waivers and bought out the last year of his contract. He signed a one-year deal with the St. Louis Blues and appeared in only three NHL games. Santini signed a two-year, two-way extension with the Blues in May 2021.
Jeremy Davies finally appeared in the NHL during the 2020-2021 NHL season. In 16 games with Nashville, he picked up a rather unspectacular one point coming on an assist. He’s not projected to be a top six defenseman for Nashville as this season starts.
The Draft Picks
Neither of the two draft picks sent over to Nashville were used for the Predators. Both were flipped off in two separate trades with two separate teams. One second round pick was for the 2019 NHL Draft, while the other was for the 2020 NHL draft.
The 2019 second round draft pick was made the same day Subban traded his Nashville yellow for Devils’ red and black. Ready to get confused? Nashville traded that pick to the Philadelphia Flyers who used it on right wing Bobby Brink. The University of Denver product has yet to turn pro. Flyers’ fans are hopeful that he can be a comparable player to Cole Caulfied, since they are both undersized.
The 2020 second round draft pick was send to the Minnesota Wild. The Wild used it on Russian forward Marat Khusnutdinov who was playing the KHL’s junior league at the time. He’s since become one of the Wild’s top prospects, as well as the KHL’s rookie of the month this past September. His expected NHL debut might be as early as next season.
Where Did Minnesota Come Into This?
Well that second round pick was sent to Minnesota as part of the Luke Kunin trade. For that reason, we can say that Kunin, in a Predators’ jersey, is a result of the P.K. Subban trade, in addition to a 2020 4th round pick. That fourth round pick was used on defenseman Adam Wilsby. Meanwhile, Kunin put up 10 goals and nine assists for the Predators in 38 games. Kunin is a former first round pick and has shown he can be a 20-plus goal scorer (he reached 15 in the shortened 2019-2020 season). He has one more year on his $4.6 million deal with the Predators and for them has been by far the most productive “product,” of the P.K. Subban trade.