"I never looked at myself or ever felt like I was 'just a hockey player'," P.K. Subban wrote in a note announcing his retirement, posted to social media on Tuesday. "I always looked at myself as a person who happened to play hockey."
It's an odd sentiment to hear from a former NHL star; someone who spent just about their whole life playing, practicing and breathing the sport of hockey.
But it's a sentiment that encapsulates Subban's career almost perfectly.
As he broke through with the Montreal Canadiens as a 21-year-old, he looked like he was "just a hockey player.