Montreal Canadiens Winning the Shea Weber for P.K Subban Trade

Examining why the Montreal Canadiens are winning the Shea Weber, P.K. Subban trade.

Montreal Canadiens General Manager Marc Bergevin made arguably the most polarizing and most scrutinizing trades in team history. Bergevin sent 27 year old defenseman P.K. Subban to Nashville, in exchange for 31 year old defenseman Shea Weber.

Subban is a former winner of the Norris Trophy, which goes to the best defensemen for his play in a season. P.K. Subban also made a wonderfully generous donation of 10 million dollars to the Children’s Hospital in Montreal. As a result this earned him an enormous amount of respect from many in Montreal.

The trade left Habs fans feeling bitter, enraged, and heartbroken. In fact many felt that their time loyally supporting and cheering for the Canadiens was now over.

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Reasons for Trading Subban

The Canadiens management and coaching staff had a few reasons why they wanted to trade their star player. First of all, there was his attitude with other Habs players in the locker room. As the team continued their free fall in the standings last season, there were rumors about divisions in the locker room and that P.K. could be at the center of it.

Secondly, Subban’s style of play from the way was different from the way Head Coach Michel Therrien wanted his team to play. The evidence of this was after the Canadiens game against the Colorado Avalanche and how Subban’s turnover cost them the game. Therrien was clearly upset and called Subban’s mistake a “selfish play“.

What Weber is Bringing to the Habs

The Canadiens needed to find a player to not only replace Subban, but to find a player that would be better than Subban. This is what the Canadiens did when they acquired Shea Weber.

Weber won the Mark Messier Leadership Award last season. Here is how the award is defined by NHL.com:

"“to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice during the regular season.”"

Weber is clearly proving his leadership with the team, because he’s being highly spoken of by his teammates. Here is what captain Max Pacioretty said of Weber:

"“I’ve seen it from the second he walked into the locker-room. He has a presence… Every team is looking to improve their locker-room and making sure they have the right guys off the ice. Ours is just magnified because of the market we play in.”"

Weber’s presence as a leader is influencing the Canadiens positive way, but his play has also been awesome to start this season. Weber has five points in his first five games this season and is a team leading plus eight so far this season. The way Weber plays the game defensively has also been a joy to watch.

Weber always is in the right position, and he is able to keep opposing forwards to the outside. Weber’s strong physical play has also helped the Canadiens set the tone early. He has helped make the Habs more tough and gritty, than they were flashy with Subban.

When Weber’s in the game the coaching staff isn’t worried about what he will do. They know that he will follow their system and be model to follow for the younger players on the Canadiens.

Next: Montreal Canadiens Can Thank Al Montoya For Hot Start

Final Thoughts

The Montreal Canadiens don’t seem to be missing Subban right now. Even though Subban is the younger and more popular player, Weber is clearly the more stable player. The fans will never forget Subban’s fun style of play, but they are starting to realize just how elite Weber is.

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