The long-term plan for Malcolm Subban appeared to be paying dividends.

The Bruins’ 2012 first-round draft pick (24th overall) had a couple of OK seasons in Providence, but after a disturbingly slow start to 2015-16, it looked like the goaltender had turned the corner during the winter. Or at least a corner. He had a subpar .872 save percentage through November but kicked into gear, posting a .926 mark in December and .935 in January. He was starting to look like the blue-chip prospect he was supposed to be.

Then his season came to an abrupt end.

In a pregame skate before a Feb. 6 game in Portland, Maine, Subban was struck in the throat with a puck, fracturing his larynx and destroying one of his vocal cords. It hit him just under the mask, where many goalies wear a hard, plastic extension for protection. Subban was not wearing one that night, but rest assured, he’ll be wearing one in the future.

“That’s for sure,” Subban said.

It was a long road back. Subban required surgery for the fractured larynx, which knocked him out of game action for the season. The rehab did not sound fun, as he was on orders not to speak at the outset, and he’s just recently regained the full power of his voice.

“It was terrible. At the start, I couldn’t talk even if I wanted to. Later they just encouraged me not to talk, but at the start I couldn’t talk at all. It was frustrating,” Subban said last week. “In the hospital, I used the notes (app) in my phone, then after the first few days, I started kind of whispering a bit, and then I started to talk really.”

There is no good time to suffer an injury like that, but it was particularly bad timing for Subban. His career momentum finally was moving in the right direction, and then it came to a dead stop.

“Just being in the hospital and not being able to talk . . . I just wanted to get back,” he said. “I had a really good January, and that’s when hockey is the most fun, when you’re winning and the team’s winning. That definitely was a little setback. But I’m happy with where I am now and happy that I can keep moving forward and not let it affect my career as a goaltender.”

He had begun to skate and was taking shots in practice when Providence was knocked out of the AHL playoffs on April 23. The athletically gifted Subban believes his game had become more refined by the time he hit his stride.

“Working with my goalie coach Bob Essensa in Providence really helped me out a lot, just being more controlled in net and just calming down instead of being everywhere, and working on depth control and stuff like that. It really helps to be more consistent and bring your game every night,” Subban said. “I think that’s one of the biggest differences in my game, on the technical side. The team was playing really well at the time, so that obviously helps for a goaltender, too.”

Whether his shortened season delays his entry into the NHL remains to be seen, but it doesn’t help. Bruins management wants to find a backup goalie who can push Tuukka Rask. After Niklas Svedberg failed to do that in 2014-15, management was understandably skittish about going with an unproven NHL goalie and opted for journeyman Jonas Gustavsson instead of Jeremy Smith. Smith, an unrestricted free agent, could compete for the job again if signed, or the B’s could go outside the organization. Jhonas Enroth, Al Montoya and James Reimer are UFAs.

Subban — at 22 still a relative baby, especially for a goalie — knows he would have had a better shot at the job if he’d been able to finish out his season with momentum. But he’s not about to disqualify himself.

“You could say that. You never really know for sure, but obviously thinking about it, technically I would have been in better standing. But it doesn’t mean I’m not in good standing right now if I have a good summer,” Subban said. “That’s all I’m focused on right now, getting into off-ice shape because when I had those two months off, I couldn’t really do anything. But after the last two months, I’ve been back in the gym and then skating in Providence, so I’m probably in better shape right now than I was at the end of last season.”

Subban has played all of 31 minutes and 15 seconds in the NHL, in a disastrous game in St. Louis on Feb. 20, 2015, in which he was pulled after giving up three goals on three straight shots. It was the kind of game that could leave a stain on the psyche, but Subban vowed to use it to his advantage.

“Obviously you don’t want to let down your team, and that was definitely a tough way to start. But to be honest, looking back at it now, it has helped me so much in working a lot harder and using that as motivation to get to the level that I want to be at with my development,” Subban said. “I’m using it as motivation this summer and for having a good camp next year.”

Long odds or not, Subban believes he’ll be NHL-ready next season.

“For sure,” he said. “Especially as a goaltender, and if you look at all the other sports, being confident in yourself goes a long way. If you don’t believe you’re able to do it, then you’re probably not going to do it. Personally, yeah, I think I’ve developed a lot over the these past three years, in spite of the injury.

“Only time will tell, and it’s not my decision. If I come to camp and don’t play well, then I’ll make their decision a lot easier.”

Sullivan left out in cold

It’s hard to argue with the Jack Adams Award finalists chosen by the NHL broadcasters. Florida’s Gerard Gallant, Dallas’ Lindy Ruff and Washington’s Barry Trotz all had terrific seasons worthy of coach of the year consideration.

But Mike Sullivan belongs on that list, too, perhaps at the top of it.

Sullivan took the reins from Mike Johnston on what former Red Sox manager Joe Morgan would have called a “dead-ass” Penguins team on Dec. 12. It wasn’t a quick fix. The Penguins lost the first five games under Sullivan, including back-to-back games against the Bruins.

But Sullivan stuck with it and was able to implement a system in which the Pens could utilize their speed. They finished the regular season as the hottest team in the league. He not only got big contributions from rejuvenated stars Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang but also call-ups like Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust. Last night, the Pens were on the cusp of pulling off an upset of Trotz’ Capitals.

Regardless of the result, Sullivan was able to change the course of an organization that had been spiraling downward since winning its last Stanley Cup in 2009.

Youth movement in Arizona

The NHL now has its very own Theo Epstein.

The Arizona Coyotes went way outside the box last week and hired 26-year-old John Chayka, an analytics cruncher brought in by the organization a year ago, to be the next general manager. With many NHL teams hiring their own analytics people to work within the hockey operations departments, Chayka was the first one to break through and get a GM job. In some ways, Chayka’s performance could determine whether this will be a wave of the future.

Chayka’s old-school predecessor in Arizona, Don Maloney, left him something to work with in Max Domi, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Anthony Duclair (thanks to Maloney’s nifty Keith Yandle trade that also netted first- and second-round picks). Now it will be up to Chayka to get the Coyotes, better than many expected this season, over the hump. The guess here is he’s bright enough to do it.