PK Subban shares his unfiltered take on the Patrik Laine injury

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Tom Banks
September 29, 2024 (8:34 PM)

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Cedric Pare took down NHL star Patrik Laine in a pre-season matchup, and now former NHLer P.K. Subban has shared his thoughts on the unnecessary situation.

The 2024/25 NHL pre-season has been full of unnecessary injuries, but the worst came on Saturday night in a pre-season tilt between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. During the clash, career AHLer Cedric Pare seemingly intentionally targeted the knee of Patrik Laine, and through updates thus far, it appears he may be done for the foreseeable future.

Now, former Montreal Canadien turned ESPN analyst PK Subban has addressed the situation, aggressively pointing out the lack of respect that comes into play when someone fighting for a roster spot goes after an established star in this fashion.

Simply put, Subban points out what many fans around the league have been pointing out since Saturday's game, and that is that star players and established veterans deserve more respect than this.

«Cedric Pare, I didn't go to the game last night to watch him play. I paid admission to go watch Patrik Laine play.»

Sure, that doesn't mean that players like Pare shouldn't put in effort and play hard, but there's other ways to make an impact than going after a 26-year old star with your knee in a play that looks increasingly more intentional the more you see it. Ultimately, this simply comes down to respect as Subban says, and if a player like Pare isn't going to respect an established star like Laine in the pre-season, than it's highly unlikely he deserves a role in the NHL, especially after the way things went down on Saturday.