Karl Subban is on the phone as he navigates Hwy. 401 between Toronto and Belleville, on his way with wife Maria to watch son Jordan play for the Bulls against the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL.

It had been an exhilarating couple of days for the Subbans. It started with another telephone call, this one from oldest son P.K. Tuesday morning, with news he had been named to the Canadian Olympic hockey team, ending months of debate, criticism, praise and endless dissection of the Montreal Canadiens defenceman's game.

"He called us at home and what I felt was relief and joy for P.K.," said Karl. "He loves playing, loves the competition and I knew how much he wanted to be part of Team Canada and represent Canada and be on that stage."

Like just about every player on Team Canada, parents played a defining role in their sons' ability to become one of the best players in his country. For P.K. Subban, there was midnight shinny on the rink in Nathan Phillips Square with his dad.

The Subbans' situation is even more intriguing when you consider P.K. is a first-generation Canadian, both of his parents having immigrated to Canada -- Karl from Jamaica and Maria from Montserrat -- when they were kids.

Karl got turned on to hockey in Sudbury, where his family settled in a predominately French-speaking neighbourhood.

Now Karl and Maria have three sons who have been drafted by NHL teams (Malcolm was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the first round in 2012 and Jordan, another righty defenceman with 81 points in his last 108 games, by the Vancouver Canucks 115th overall last summer).

When asked about his selection to the Olympic team being an inspiration or motivation to others, P.K. said: "It's a pretty special thing. That's the thing when you talk about my parents. They weren't born here in Canada. For two people that came from the Caribbean and started a family here and had to work extremely hard to provide for that family ... by all means, my parents had great jobs and they've worked extremely hard, but ,you know, I'm sure, when they first came to Canada they never thought about three boys playing hockey, let alone having one that is going to play for an Olympic team. I'm sure they're very happy.

"If people see that as motivation, then great. I'm happy to do that. It's quite flattering. I hope it can inspire people, for sure."

HEAR AND THERE: Karl Subban said he followed the debate about his son's candidacy for the Olympic team, but opted to stay above the fray. "I don't get involved," he said, " but there was a basketball player who said, 'Yhey don't talk about nobodies.' P.K. is still an apprentice. My wife and I have talked about this. You don't become a master mechanic without being an apprentice and he's still an apprentice in many ways." Of P.K.'s critics he said: "No one can change what's inside him, no matter what they say. They can't touch the goodness and greatness inside him ... he's going to keep working hard. There have been many obstacles he's faced and he's conquered them. The forces for him are greater than the forces against him." ... With Tom Glavine's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, it's interesting to note he was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings (fourth round, 69th overall), ahead of Hockey Hall of Fame winger Luc Robitaille (171st overall). Hall of Fame hockey writer Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times points out there was another guy taken in that draft who went on to have some success outside of hockey: Montrealer Shannon Deegan was taken 150th overall from the University of Vermont. He is now the director of global security operations for some web thing called Google.

THE BUZZ: Belleville Bulls coach and general manager George Burnett remains an important figure for the Subban family. P.K. Subban said Burnett was the second person he called after his parents upon finding out he had been selected to Team Canada. All three of the Subban boys have played for Burnett. "He is such a wonderful person and developer (of players)," said Karl Subban. "I didn't know a lot about hockey or the NHL when P.K. went there. They say it takes a village to raise a child. George Burnett is P.K.'s village. George shies away from the spotlight. It's not shining on George as much as P.K. or our family. I want it to shine on him." ... The Kings honoured coach Darryl Sutter for coaching his 1,000th regular-season game. They gave him cowboy boots and a trip to a resort. "I thought I was going to get a tractor," said the guy who might be the most famous farmer from Viking, Alta.

JUST WONDERING: The Olympic selections north and south of the border left bitter feelings all over the place. What will be the fallout in Columbus, where Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards was part of a U.S. coaching staff that voted unanimously to take Anaheim's Cam Fowler over Jack Johnson? "It's over now. It doesn't matter what's said now. When I needed the support and the belief, I didn't get it. So anything that's said now is empty and meaningless," said Johnson. "When I needed the belief and trust, I didn't get it, and I didn't get it when it counted from numerous people." Said Richards: "Jack's play wasn't where it needed to be at the start of the year. Now, with him at the top of his game, look where we're at as a team, how well we're playing. It's a compliment to him and his game." Like Johnson said, it doesn't matter what's said now, huh? ... The New York Rangers are hanging around a wild card berth in the East, but that hasn't stopped a lot of talk about D Dan Girardi, a free agent next summer, moving on. He'd be a good fit on a team like the Anaheim Ducks, who have young depth on the blueline to offer up in a deal.

JUST SAYING: When evaluating the Vancouver Canucks, it's worth noting they are 4-6-3 against the six teams ahead of them in the West standings and 7-2-2 against the six below them. I guess that makes them a middle-of-the-pack team in the West and probably a home-ice playoff team in the East ... Minnesota D Ryan Suter took the ceremonial faceoff in L.A. with legendary glam rockers Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS dropping the puck (KISS is going to play at the outdoor game in L.A. later this month). Simmons had some words of wisdom for Suter: "He said, 'Just make sure you keep all your teeth and have fun out there,'" said Suter. "I said, 'Oh, I'll try.' He seemed like a good guy."

THE LAST WORD: The Canucks are 2-6 in shootouts this season and practised their moves the other day. Coach John Tortorella was typically guarded in his opinion: "That gimmick should be out of the league," he said. Never change, Torts.

TOP FIVE

Defenceman Wade Redden, who at one time was a given for Team Canada and one of the best puck-moving defencemen in the pre-2005 lockout game, retired the other day at the age of 36 after a tumultuous 14-year career in the NHL. From Team Canada at the World Cup in 2004 and the Olympic team in 2006, Redden wound up in the AHL after the New York Rangers signed him to a six-year, $39-million deal in 2008 and sent him to the minors to get out from under the deal.

Redden wound up making close to $70 million in his career and that is just enough to get him into the top-20 in career NHL earnings.

Here, according to Capgeek.com, are the Top 5 career earners in NHL history ...

5. Paul Kariya (Anaheim, Colorado, Nashville, St. Louis over 15 seasons): $89,372,600. He was one of the first players to have his career curtailed by the effects of concussions or he might have added to this total. He was forced to retire after sitting out the 2010-11 season because of a concussion. From 1999-2003 he earned $10 million a season.

4. Joe Sakic, (Quebec, Colorado over 18 seasons): $96,379,481. Hit the home run in 1997-98 when he earned $17 million for the season after getting an offer sheet from the New York Rangers which was front-loaded. The Avs matched. His first-year salary with the Quebec Nordiques was $290,000.

3. Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit over 20 seasons): $100,640,000. You probably could have added another $20 million to his career total if it hadn't been for the 2004-05 lockout. Lidstrom earned $10.5 million and $10 million in the years preceeding the lockout, but got a haircut with the 24% rollback to $7.6 million under the new salary cap.

2. Chris Pronger (Hartford, St. Louis, Edmonton, Anaheim, Philadelphia over 18 seasons): $108,800,000. Another player who paid the price for the 2004-05 lockout. He earned $9.5 million a season in the three years before 2004-05 and saw his salary to drop to $6.25 million in the five years after that lockout. His career effectively ended by a concussion, he's still earning $7 million this season.

1. Jaromir Jagr (Pittsburgh, Washington, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, New Jersey over 21 seasons): $117,803,666. He hit the $11 million plateau for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons before the lockout hit, which trimmed $2.7 million off his deal for the next three seasons. He left the NHL to play three seasons in the KHL. He has earned another $9.8 million since returning for the 2011-12 season with Philly.

BEST SEATS

A look at your best bet for quality viewing in the upcoming NHL week:

Saturday - Boston at San Jose

There's been a lot of talk about the dominance of the West vs. East this season, but the Bruins are doing more than OK with an 8-4-2 record vs. the West. The Sharks are 9-3-2 vs. East this season.

Friday - Anaheim at Chicago

The Anaheim Ducks lead the NHL and the Chicago Blackhawks are just behind them. Going into Friday's games, the Ducks led the league in road wins with 15 which should make for a pretty good tilt.

GO FIGURE

100 -The number of days the Toronto Maple Leafs held a playoff spot before falling out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference with their loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night. The Leafs were in first place in the Atlantic Division on Nov. 2. They slipped into the first wild card spot Nov. 16, but climbed back up into the top three in the Atlantic until Nov. 28. Since then, they had held either the first or second wild card position.

1 - The number of wins for Buffalo Sabres goaltender Jhonas Enroth despite having a 2.46 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage (.920 at even strength). His record is 1-8-4 and after the Sabres lost to the Florida Panthers 2-1 in a shootout, he said: "It's tough to win with this team." No kidding. The Sabres have scored just 17 goals in the 13 games in which Enroth has played. His lone win was back on Oct. 25, but he was still named to the Swedish Olympic team.

109 - The number of career game-winning goals scored by Anaheim Ducks winger Teemu Selanne. He scored the game winner Thursday night to move into a tie with Brendan Shanahan for fifth place on the all-time list. Selanne is one goal behind Brett Hull for fourth on the list. Selanne is also pursuing Hull on the career power-play goals list. Selanne now has 253 power-play goals, third all-time, and 12 behind Hull.

14 - The number of wins the Anaheim Ducks have this season after giving up the first goal of the game. The Ducks are 14-5-1 after being scored on first, the most wins in the NHL in that situation this season. There are five teams tied for second with nine wins after giving up the first goal of a game: Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks, Boston Bruins and the, ahem, Buffalo Sabres.

AMBULANCE CHASING

Injuries that are having or could have a big impact.

There was good news Friday in Nashville as goaltender Pekka Rinne, attempting to come back from a hip infection, was cleared to begin weight-bearing exercises under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Byrd. There's still no timetable for Rinne's return and there's probably no rush. Rinne was 4-4-1 when he went down and the tandem of Carter Hutton and Marek Mazanec are 15-16-5 since. The Predators just didn't look like a playoff team this season, with or without Rinne. They're nine points out of the last wild card spot in the tough West going into Friday night's games. A healthy Rinne, who hasn't played since Oct. 22, might have made it slightly more interesting. Truth is, the Predators just don't score enough to be a playoff team (they're second to last in the West in goals scored, with 108).

THE TOOL BOX

Minnesota Wild

The Wild have been one of the few teams in the NHL without a player wearing the moulded protectors over their skates to try and reduce the chances of injury when hit by a puck. But now they are without F Zach Parise and F Mikko Koivu and D Jared Spurgeon because of foot injuries. Wild GM Chuck Fletcher has met with players about wearing the protectors, to no avail.

"The problem is players have the right to do what they want to do. We cannot make them wear them," Fletcher said. "We can encourage them to, we can provide (protectors) to them -- which we have all year -- and we can be a little more aggressive in extolling the virtues of shot blockers and, well, strongly recommend them.

"But we are not allowed to mandate players to wear them. Ultimately, it's the player's final decision. Player choice and player rights are part of the equation, but I'd prefer that we put player safety and the good of the team ahead of player choice and player rights. But this is the world we live in."

Players have complained they feel like their skates will "bottom out" when they turn and the protector will touch the ice, causing them to fall.

Undaunted, Fletcher is having a specialist come in to make mouldings of the players feet next week and make custom-made blockers which might make wearing them more acceptable to the players.

chris.stevenson@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/CJ_Stevenson