Shea Weber talks about trade

He’s a legit, No. 1, franchise-cornerstone defenseman. In addition to being considered among the top defensemen in the National Hockey League, both are among the highest paid. P.K. Subban has 5 years remaining on his contract with a full no-movement clause-which he obviously waived for this deal to go through-which holds a substantial cap hit of $9 million.

Subban, a Toronto native, recorded six goals and 45 assists in 68 games last season for the Canadiens. “Superstar defencemen of his calibre are a rare commodity, and we are thrilled to add him to the organization”. He is heading into the third season of his eight-year, $72-million contract. He has scored 63 goals in 434 games.

First off let me say that this trade absolutely blew my mind.

He was too showy, too loud and there have been conflicting reports that he often clashed with head coach Michel Therrien, who once publicly criticized the defenseman for a “selfish” play. Buffalo signed defenseman Casey Nelson to a two-year contract extension.

But that’s where this trade starts making less sense.

Weber’s contract qualifies for salary cap recapture due to the heavily front-loaded nature of his contract, originally signed back in 2010. Only Erik Karlsson compares favourably to Subban’s contribution in generating scoring chances, and Weber isn’t even among the top 30.

Wow another trade involving a two huge players for each respective team who would have thought?

In most cases, trading Weber would make him irreplaceable on the blue line.

Because of that, Subban is now a member of the Nashville Predators, a team he believes can contend for years to come. On top of that, barring any other unforeseen moves, Weber will be without a high-end D partner like he had for multiple years in Nashville with Ryan Suter and later Roman Josi.

He and Price were teammates on the Olympic team with Subban.

“If P.K. was going to be with the Montreal Canadiens on July 1, we had no problem with that at all”. Subban said he always felt wanted in the Montreal community after he was drafted in the second round in 2007, but stopped short of saying he felt unwanted by the Canadiens. It’s hard to justify otherwise.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin had us all convinced last Thursday that P.K Subban wasn’t going anywhere.

The Canadiens are getting a defenseman “with tremendous leadership” who will improve their defense and power play, Bergevin said. Shea Weber led all National Hockey League defencemen last season with 14 power-play goals. He is a complete rearguard with impressive size and a powerful shot.

“P.K. Subban is a special and very talented player, Bergevin said”.

As dynamic as his play is on the ice, Subban is equally as generous off of it. Just last week, Subban received the 2016 NHL Foundation Award, which is presented to “an NHL player who applies the core values of hockey – commitment, perseverance and teamwork – to enrich the lives of people in his community”.

“I just feel good knowing that a team has moved someone to bring me in because they want me”, Subban said on a conference call.

As far as the Predators are concerned, they may have just landed the new face of their team.

Not everything a player does is accounted for here, but this is a strong cross section of the responsibilities of an elite defenceman – and it’s not close to compare the two.