In hindsight, Maxim Lapierre feels that PK Subban “changed the game.”

However, that wasn’t his opinion at all as he shared the dressing room with him.

“To be honest it bothered me when I played with him,” he admitted on the show. La Poche Bleue at noon, Tuesday. A few years later I realized that he had changed the game. It’s thanks a little to Subban that the likes of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki are expressing themselves on social media. He brought a breath of fresh air to the National Hockey League. We’ve seen players in other sports express themselves through their clothing, and PK brought that to hockey.

“In the NHL we don’t want to change and we like to keep traditions. When I think about it, now that I’m more mature, he was a brave guy. He changed the “game”. Now all the boys come in hats! At first it was said that he wanted to attract attention with his clothes, but today everyone does that the same way. Everyone copied it in some way.

Over the years, many critics have commented on Subban’s flamboyant nature, but one can never fault him for a lack of effort and heart on the ice, Lapierre points out.

“You couldn’t fault him on the ice. He worked, he loved the Canadians, he blocked shots and he fought when he had to. He was willing to do anything to win.

“What bothered the guys was that he lured the media to him to do interviews. But that’s okay, he was the one who sold the tickets. And he was still young.

Lapierre also specifies that “he was never flamboyant after losing three games in a row, only when things were going well”.

Like Dennis Rodman?

Lapierre sees similarities in Subban with former NBA enfant terrible Dennis Rodman.

“The leader should have leveled things out and tolerated more because he was good on the ice. You have to “know” about it. It’s like the Michael Jordan documentary. We see that we let Dennis Rodman do his business. All that was asked of him was to help the team win. That’s the most important.”

Additionally, Lapierre believes Subban could have added at least one more season to his career.

“It’s sad. I would have loved to see him play another season or two. He could have taken on a mentoring role and been the fifth or sixth defender on a team and a power play specialist.”

Watch Maxim Lapierre’s full procedure in the video above.