Akim Aliu calls P.K. Subban a 'sellout' and tears him to shreds for Trump comments
Former NHL player Akim Aliu isn’t holding back on his thoughts about P.K. Subban and a recent social media post of his.
Subban, who currently works for ESPN after last playing in the NHL in 2022, shared a post today about Donald Trump’s phone call to Team USA ahead of the 4 Nations championship game tonight against Canada. Though Trump will not be in attendance for the game after an invite from Team USA general manager Bill Guerin, he stated his plans to watch the game.
“The Trizzy Train could be coming through soon,” Subban wrote on X while sharing Trump’s Truth Social post of details of the call, which included a reference to his calls to make Canada the 51st state and referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”
Subban had also expressed his desire for Trump to attend the final at TD Garden in Boston after Trudeau attended the USA-Canada match this past Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
“I hope he shows up,” Subban said on ESPN yesterday. “The Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau] showed up [in Montreal]… there’ll be a ton of people in that building. The atmosphere is going to be amazing.”
Aliu, on the other hand, had quite a differing opinion to Subban and offered a pointed critique of his comments.
He called Subban a “sellout” and a “disgrace,” among other things.
I’ve watched you from afar and never said anything for two main reasons. 1 being the respect I have for your brothers and parents & 2 I’ve always wanted to keep the in fighting between folks of color to a minimum.
This was something I couldn’t let go –
I’ve known you since I… https://t.co/7pXYVUv89L
— Akim “Dreamer” Olumide Aliu (@Dreamer_Aliu78) February 20, 2025
“I’ve always wanted to keep the in fighting between folks of color to a minimum. This was something I couldn’t let go… I’ve known you since I was ten years old and played with you, so I’d say I know you better than most at a deeper level. You were a hell of a player and instead of using your platform you did everything in your power to gain acceptance and popularity, nothing with you has ever been genuine but transactional and usually for publicity reasons,” Aliu wrote.
Both Aliu and Subban were born in 1989 and grew up in Toronto before being selected in the 2007 NHL Draft.
“Even during this most sensitive time both politically and socially you take the side of the oppressor because that’s who you make your money from. I would of thought the ‘love’ you have always claimed for your country, a country you represented at the highest levels would shine through to push back on rhetoric of annexation and humiliation of the very land you are born and raised in, but even that doesn’t get you to do the right morally,” Aliu added.
Subban won an Olympic gold medal on Team Canada in 2014, while also winning two gold medals at the World Juniors in 2008 and 2009. He played for three NHL franchises: the Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, and New Jersey Devils, last playing in the NHL in 2022. Aliu suggested that Subban was widely disliked across the league.
Aliu himself had a short-lived NHL career, playing just seven NHL games with the Calgary Flames in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons. He last played in the 2023-24 season, making a three-game comeback with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda after taking three years off from the sport.
In 2019, Aliu called out former Flames coach Bill Peters for racist behaviour during his time in the NHL, including using racial slurs at him on multiple occasions, and suggested that Peters was directly responsible for stunting the growth of his career, which included a demotion to the ECHL. Peters eventually resigned from the Flames shortly after Aliu’s comments came to light. In 2020, Aliu co-founded the Hockey Diversity Alliance to fight systemic racism within the sport.