P.K. Subban Needs an Attitude Check like Mike Richards Needs a Reality One

"Cocky? Me??? Man, Richards needs to know his place and get ready for Primetime just like everyone else."

Does anyone else get the sense that the Philadelphia Flyers are just an oversized bunch of sore losers, especially after the Montreal Canadiens shut them out on Tuesday night?

Exhibit A: Scott Hartnell accusing Maxim Lapierre of choking him in a scrum, little over a year after he himself was accused of bitting Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang under similar circumstances (see tail-end of vid). We’re not saying it didn’t happen, but choose your battles. Especially since trying to get Lapierre to admit something like that happened would be like pulling teeth, but let’s not give him any ideas for the next scrum, with the teams renewing their hostilities next Monday.

Exhibit B: Chris Pronger falling off the puck-stealing-addiction wagon, only to be caught by Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. I can only imagine what that would have looked like, two vertically challenged Habs running after a 6’6” giant like Chris Pronger in the Bell Centre hallways asking as politely as possible for the game puck back. Yes, I can only imagine, and yet I can’t stop laughing.

Exhibit C: Captain Mike Richards mouthing off to anyone who will listen, telling reporter Shaun Starr from the local Team 990 radio station in regard to P.K. Subban:

“He’s a guy that’s come in the league and hasn’t earned respect [just like me]. 

“It’s just frustrating [NOT losing 3-0 to a much smaller team, right after which I am making these seemingly out-of-frustration comments, but rather] to see a young guy like that come in here and... think that he’s better than a lot of people. 

“You have to earn respect in this league. It takes a lot [like running goalies and making it look like it was an accident, see above video; or knocking guys out like I did David Booth last season]. 

“You can’t just come in here as a rookie and play like that [you need three, four years under your belt, tops; then you can behave like an ass as much as you want].”

Please note that Richards didn’t actually say those things in parentheses. They were added in to illustrate a point. Indeed, a day after Richards was the subject of much praise on these pages for his penalty-killing efforts against the Ottawa Senators, I’m taking him to task for his hypocritical tirade last night. Richards may be a leader, but last night he was only showing his team and whoever else was watching how to be an idiot by example.

One example of many took place midway through the third period when he took a few extra shots at Andrei Kostitsyn, who promptly gave him one right back only to see Richards change before his eyes into an insane-asylum escapee in need of a good sedative. P.K. Subban stepped in to help out his teammate, and all of a sudden he’s a disrespectful pissant? Sorry, your highness. We didn’t realize that you were king of the universe and that the league charter specifically laid out that everyone is allowed to take garbage from you and not dish it back out.

Subban may be cocky, but you need some measure of arrogance to have a successful career. Just look in the mirror Mike; you’re a 25-year-old, talking like you’re 35, but acting like you’re 15. If that’s not cockiness, I don’t know what is. And, for the record, Subban is four years younger than you and clearly has way more class. He may be brash, but he’s not the one talking smack to the media about you behind your back.

"Yep, looking classy... to make up for my huge lack of class."

No one will ever confuse Subban for let’s say former Hab Saku Koivu, whose actual leadership skills (take note Mike) were equalled only by his sense of modesty. Subban’s got skills, and he isn’t afraid of letting people know it or of people thinking less of him for it, as this tweet today from local reporter Arpon Basu will surely prove:

“Asked Subban today if his spin-o-rama could be construed as cockiness. ‘Well, then Bobby Orr was the cockiest player in NHL history.’”

Somehow Subban is able to both make the greatest comeback ever AND seem like a delusional schizo for comparing himself to Orr! How does he do it? Who knows? Just one of his many skills, it looks like. He’s got charisma, and that’s why we love him.

The bottom line is Richards doesn’t have a leg to stand on if he’s going to complain about how Subban carries himself. He has more pressing things to worry about like how he’s going to go about getting in Carey Price’s kitchen next Monday, hopefully without having to run him.