An apprenticeship we've all had the pleasure of watching unfold on live television comes to an end Thursday night, and P.K. Subban is graduating from the Hal Gill School of Defensemen with honours.

Yes, Subban is still a rookie and still has a lot to learn and still has a lot of improving to do. But when the puck drops for Game 1 against the Boston Bruins, Subban will be perhaps the most pivotal figure the Canadiens will need to elevate his game because he has the ability in him to take over this series.

It's perhaps unfair to ask that of a rookie because most would be unable to handle such an assignment.

But it says here that this kid has it in him.

Subban faced the media for the first time this week after Wednesday's practice in Brossard, and the questions coming at him were predictable, only because they're questions that require answers.

How will he handle being targeted by the Bruins even more than he already was before, game after game after game? How will he handle what will surely be his defensive assignment of facing Milan Lucic and his linemates David Krejci and Nathan Horton? How will he handle being a front-line player expected to be a difference-maker for this team after he had little to no expectations on him in his playoff debut last year?

Subban answered them all with a smile, and with a calm and loose demeanour that suggests that in his mind, these questions are not questions at all.

He knows he can do it.

"I don't know about that, it's just hockey," he said in response to a question about the prominent role he plays on the team. "I just go out and play. This is fun. Who doesn't want to be on the biggest stage playing in the playoffs? This is where guys have made names for themselves, guys have made careers just by playing well in the playoffs. It's a great time of the year, and I'm just happy I can be a part of it."

A day earlier, his good bud Carey Price said Subban couldn't be less concerned about what the Bruins think of him, or what anyone thinks of him for that matter, when I asked how he would be affected by the fact that everyone on the other bench can't stand him.

"I actually think he enjoys it," was Price's response.

And I actually think he's right, which is what makes Subban such a huge X-factor in this series.

The art of agitating

All season long we've seen team after team lose their composure over something Subban has done. There were the Philadelphia Flyers, with Claude Giroux and Mike Richards spouting off on him. The New York Rangers obsessing over a slew foot Subban threw on Brandon Dubinsky in the previous game. The Tampa Bay Lightning having their captain Vincent Lecavalier tossed from the game for a two-handed slash after being slew-footed twice by Subban.

The list goes on and on, because in at least half the games he's played this season, Subban has drawn the ire of his opponents at some point.

And the team topping that list are these Bruins, who have shown on several occasions that the Canadiens – and Subban in particular – can force them to lose their composure.

I would imagine the Bruins will want to send a clear message Subban's way right off the bat Thursday night with a big hit, or a post-whistle facewash, or something. And chances are if they do, it will only have the opposite effect on Subban's game. It will show him that whatever he does is working, and will give him the motivation to keep doing it.

"He's one of our best players, so I assume he would be (targeted)," Gill said Wednesday. "I'd be disappointed if he wasn't."

Drawing penalties good, taking them bad

The challenge for Subban – and this is where his graduation comes in – will be to make sure he's drawing penalties and not taking them himself. He's too important to the Canadiens penalty kill to be watching shorthanded situations from the box, and he's so dangerous on the power play that every penalty he can goad Boston into taking will allow him to make the Bruins pay the ultimate price for their temper by putting the puck in their net.

Subban has toed the discipline line all season long, and it's perhaps the one area where he's shown the least improvement.

March was the month where Subban got his most penalty minutes of the season with 32 in 15 games. That's over two minutes a game, though 12 of them came in one game against Carolina on March 30, somewhat skewing the numbers. His second highest number of penalty minutes came in February with 27 in 13 games, again averaging more than two minutes per game.

In fact, Subban's penalty minutes have increased in a pretty linear way since the start of the season: 12 minutes in October, 15 in November, 17 in both December and January, 27 in February and 32 in March. A logical explanation for that is what I discussed earlier, that Subban was being targeted by opposing players more and more as the season went along. But now that the playoffs have started, Subban will need to find a way to continue doing the things he does to get under his opponents skin without paying the price by taking penalties himself.

Then there are the types of penalties he's taken this season: nine tripping calls, six slashing calls, five hooking calls, five interference calls, two high-sticking calls and two holding calls. Those 29 penalties among his league-leading 42 minors on the season all fall under the category of bad penalties, the ones your teammates are a little less motivated to kill, especially when they happen with such frequency.

The challenge of cleaning that one major blemish on his game is one Subban will need to conquer immediately, and the importance of doing so is really the ultimate compliment he can receive because it shows how badly he's needed on the ice.

Gill the mentor

Helping him along, as he has all season, is Gill.

The consummate pro has forged such a funny relationship with the consummate kid, and we reporters continue to get little glimpses of it every now and then.

Another one occurred Wednesday when Gill walked out of the dressing room after finishing his duties with reporters, with Subban still in the middle of answering questions.

As Gill reached the sliding doors leading to the players' private area, he crossed paths with Canadiens VP of communications Donald Beauchamp. Suddenly Gill stopped, turned around and hollered over to Beauchamp that Subban had already been talking for five minutes and that he should wrap it up and head out.

Instantly, Beauchamp turned to P.K. and yelled, "P.K., when your done Hal wants to see you in the back."

That was at about the eight-minute mark of Subban's scrum. Five minutes later, Subban was still answering questions when those sliding doors opened once more and Gill re-appeared, hollering over to P.K. to finish up and get out of the room.

Shortly thereafter, as you can see if you click on the video player on this page and go to about the 11-minute mark, Subban quickly finished up and said with a smile, "That's it guys, I'm going to get in trouble."

The guy Price described as Reggie Dunlop because of the sheer volume of instructions he gives to Subban on the ice provided us with another little snapshot of the role he plays in Subban's development off it as well.

At the same time, Gill gave me even more proof he must be re-signed this off-season, something I imagine he will continue to prove on the ice in the playoffs.

Because even if this is Subban's graduation day from the Hal Gill School of Defensemen, it doesn't mean it needs to be his graduation from the Hal Gill School of Professionalism.

Words of wisdom

However, Subban's not doing so badly in the latter school either, because he continues to express his desire to learn and continue improving, and just how impressed he is by what his veteran teammates can do.

With the puck about to drop on a series so many in this city appear to think the Canadiens are destined to lose, I will leave you with a Subban quote that perfectly encapsulates why I believe they will win.

"I always go back to Game 7 in Pittsburgh," Subban said when asked to pick a moment in last year's playoffs that stood out for him. "We had played such a great series to that point, but so many people ruled us out going into Pittsburgh for Game 7. We know about the great players on the other side, but you look at how the players on this team stepped up, Travis Moen and Gionta and Gomez.

"The older guys stepped up and really carried the team," he continued. "I think a lot of people forget about that. I don't know how, but we've gone 82 games and people forget about how some of these guys have played in the past. I don't think you can overlook that, especially at this time of year.

"In this dressing room, as a player I know the guys we're going to war with, and I'm pretty happy to be going to war with those guys."