LOS ANGELES – The room was filled with NHL players wearing all-star game branded warm-up gear. Gray, drab long-sleeve shirts, with the Los Angeles event’s logo.

Then P.K. Subban walked in the room.

He was wearing a dark green suit, with the kind of jacket you’d expect to find on the victor of a prestigious golf tournament. He had two large cufflinks, visible on cameras and possibly from space: One with his number and Montreal Canadiens colors, the other with the logo of his current team, the Nashville Predators.

As he walked over to NHL Network’s set for an appearance, a veteran Montreal-based reporter standing nearby uttered, “He doesn’t even look like a hockey player anymore.”

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That Subban has been as much a personal brand as he’s been an NHL player – 296 points in 468 games as a defenseman, winning the Norris Trophy in 2013 – isn’t breaking news. His logo appears on hockey gear. His admirable charity work hasn’t been what you’d call “subtle.” He’s done television, he’s done comedy. He’s everything hockey fans wish some of these painfully humble “logo on the front not the name on he back!” types could be, to hype the sport; and he’s everything traditionalists don’t want from NHL players, and particularly loathe in modern athletes.

As he arrived in Los Angeles, it was only appropriate that one of the NHL’s biggest celebrities made the pages of The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news that Subban has signed with talent agency WME. Specifically, he hopes to work with Jill Smoller, the star agent that reps athletes like Serena Williams and Genie Bouchard.

“WME is such a successful organization. You look at the athletes they represent, and they’re great,” said Subban. “I have a great relationship with Maverick Carter, who represents LeBron James. He had suggested Jill Smoller to me, and she has a long lost of athletes that she’s worked with in her career, including Serena Williams. She knows what she’s doing.”

So what’s the end result? Movies?

“Do I want to be in movies? I mean, if there was a movie about me, I would like Denzel to play me,” he said, with a laugh. ‘It’s about building relationships. As an athlete, you want to build as many positive relationships as you can when you’re playing.”

It also doesn’t hurt that Smoller helped Williams make $13 million in endorsements in 2015.

Was this deal possible for Subban without being traded to a U.S. team? “Not necessarily,” he said. “I think you add pieces to your team that can help in different ways, and that’s a piece I didn’t have.”

He’s the NHL’s most engaging personality, playing in a U.S. city (which is beneficial, despite the critics), cutting across different demographics like few pro hockey players can.

There’s only one P.K. Subban, as much as P.K. Subban wishes his peers could have their stars shine just as brightly.

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In the past, Subban has blamed the NHL for the lack of true star-power in hockey, players who enter the pop culture zeitgeist and get featured on ESPN.

“The NHL doesn’t market individual players—they market teams,” he said. “The NFL markets players. NBA? Markets players. The Montreal Canadiens don’t really market players. They market the Montreal Canadiens.”

He’s also blamed hockey culture, which leaves players feeling as if any exhibition of personality or any opinion that stirs the pot runs counter to the ethos of the sport, will be criticized and will be shut down by their team and league custodians. From a Sportsnet feature on Subban:

There’s this prevailing notion in hockey that if you make a big deal out of your goals or you’re outgoing, you’re not a leader, Subban says, sounding exasperated—and that just doesn’t make sense to him. “Bobby Orr didn’t celebrate because that’s the way he was—he just didn’t feel the need to. Great. Tiger Williams used to go down the ice sitting on his stick. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy—that means he gets excited. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

To Subban’s mind, hockey is the one pro sport that eats its own. If you listen to basketball coverage, he says, 90 percent of what they’ll say about the game’s biggest stars is positive, but hockey just isn’t like that—for him or anyone else. “Even Sidney Crosby—look at all the heat he’s been taking. This guy’s the best player in the world, and he’s getting the heat he’s been getting? Really?”

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