More than a decade ago, P. K. Subban was one of  NHL’s brightest stars. He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy, had signed a big $72 million contract as well and was one of the highest-paid defensemen in hockey. But while playing for the Montreal Canadiens, Subban made a big promise in 2015 that he would donate $10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. Shortly after, he was traded. But still, he never broke that promise. 11 years later, Subban has officially fulfilled that promise.

On May 9, the pledge was officially fulfilled, which became the largest philanthropic donation ever made by a professional athlete in Canada. Looking back on the milestone, the former NHL star said that the money wasn’t the most important part of the journey; it was the families that were affected throughout the process.

“Everybody touches the hospital. Everybody’s been sick. Everybody has someone or knows someone who’s been sick,” Subban said. “The 10 million is a big number, but it’s the number of families that we’ve helped that is the biggest number. And it continues to grow, even past the pledge.”

The hospital confirmed that nearly 100,000 children and families have been supported through the initiative over the last decade. But reaching that goal was not easy. “It was difficult. Definitely had its difficulties,” he said.

One of the challenges was his surprise trade to the Nashville Predators in 2016 by the Montreal Canadiens. But the project was all about Montreal and its community making it hard for him to be directly involved in fundraising events.

The 2020 pandemic posed another big challenge. As during the process particularly due to the cancellation of many in person fundraising efforts and charity events for extended periods. Also, there were years when Subban was subject to criticism on and off the ice. His career in the NHL took a turn for the worse in later years, playing for the New Jersey Devils. Injuries hampered his game, and in 2022, he retired when his contract expired.

Despite all of that, Subban said he never doubted he would complete the promise. “Was there any doubt in my mind?” he said, ” No, because I made a commitment that I was always going to follow through on.”

Now, working as a hockey analyst and broadcaster for ESPN, explained that even after leaving Montreal, he never lost connection with the city or the mission he started there. “But I relied on this community and they believed in me and we never wavered and I never wavered.”

Throughout the years, some criticism also surfaced around the foundation and how the money was handled. The biggest controversy came in January 2023, when reports from Quebec media questioned whether Subban had fully reached the original goal of raising $10 million within seven years. Even another report questioned why some money collected through the foundation had not yet been distributed immediately to charities, mentioning that roughly $2 million remained within the foundation at one stage while fundraising efforts were still ongoing.

And now, in 2026,  Subban directly addressed those conversations while defending the transparency of the project. “When the community and the city and the Montreal Canadiens… gave me that platform and invested in me, all I did was reinvest into the community,” he said. “A hundred percent of what we’ve raised goes to the kids.”

Subban also explained that workers connected to the foundation were not paid through donation money. “If anybody’s been paid, like my assistant, Anna, I pay her personally,” he said. “Every single dollar that was raised by any volunteer, none of it was given to anybody else…. It was all given to the hospital.”

But long before the recent hospital story resurfaced, P. K. Subban already had a reputation for being  involved in community work throughout his NHL career.

P. K. Subban grew up with struggle and learned to give back

P. K. Subban was not raised in a wealthy or elite hockey family, but in a hardworking immigrant household. His father, Karl Subban, moved from Jamaica to Canada as a child, and his mother, Maria Subban, is from Montserrat. The family settled in Toronto and raised five children together.

He was raised in a large family of four siblings, including Malcolm Subban (NHL goalie), Jordan Subban (defenseman) and two sisters who played high level basketball. They lived in Rexdale, Toronto’s working-class community, where finances were usually tight.  Both parents worked in education and raising five children while supporting three sons in expensive hockey programs meant careful budgeting.

So, his father used to work extra to support the boys. After growing up in that environment, it changed Subban’s mindset. He didn’t only have an interest in getting to the NHL; he also developed a great attitude about giving back. That way of thinking later made its way into his community work with “P.K.’s Helping Hand,” a fund he had established to help families deal with medical bills when their children were being treated at the hospital.

Despite being traded to the Nashville Predators and then other teams, he continued to be active in community-based initiatives. He founded “Blue Line Buddies” to foster trust between police and youth at NHL games. He also gave $50,000 to help Gianna Floyd, the daughter of George Floyd, in 2020 as the world rallied around for global justice during the protests following the death of George Floyd.

Alongside that, he continued to take part in charity galas and fundraising efforts connected to children’s healthcare over the years. His work also touched mental health support through hospital programs, including services for teens in crisis at Le SPOT Montréal and care systems for families dealing with emotional stress when a child is seriously ill.

That background never left him. It became the foundation for everything he built off the ice.