2025-2026 NHL Offseason

Oh they take time. Not every defenseman is Dewey or Karlsson. Look at Burnsy. Guy was strong in his 20's but he only became what he is now at, I think he's what 30?

Dr. Delight said:

This is clearly Therrien not liking Subban and Bergevin doing his coach a favor, still doesnt make it a good trade.
A plus for MTL is, if Weber retires before the contract ends, Nashville is on the hook for any recapture penalties.
Still, Subban is younger with a shorter contract. Don't forget, Nashville prob has the best defense in the league, even after losing Weber. They have enough guys to play back and let Subban do his thing.

May have been some locker room BS too - Pacioretty, et al.

26 years to the day that they traded Chelios too.


http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/p-k-subban-trade-may-worst-canadiens-history/

There is a tendency in the era of social media to overreact to big trades, pronouncing an instant winner and loser without all the details. Sometimes the “wait and see” approach is wiser and shows maturity.

This is not one of those times.

The Montreal Canadiens have made possibly the worst trade in the history of their franchise, for no reason at all. P.K. Subban is no longer a Canadien and will instead suit up for the Nashville Predators, with Shea Weber taking his place in Montreal. A one-for-one deal of two right-handed defencemen with enormous contracts, but only one of them is worth it.

Subban, 27, is four years younger than Weber, who turns 31 in August and is signed for six more seasons to Weber’s 10. Even if the two were equivalent talents, taking the older defenceman who is signed longer is a bad deal, but unfortunately for the Canadiens, Weber has been in sharp decline for a number of years.

No player in the NHL made more plays with the puck per minute played than Subban, while Weber ranked a lowly 216th of 256 in terms of involvement in the play, and it gets worse when you compare the two directly.

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. Only Erik Karlsson compares favourably to Subban’s contribution in generating scoring chances, and Weber isn’t even among the top 30.

Subban is an elite transition player who moves the puck up ice with control better than almost anyone in the NHL, and again, Weber is nothing special there, as he relied on Roman Josi.
Weber is close to Subban when it comes to passing the puck out of the defensive zone, but this past season was the worst of Subban’s career in that regard, as Michel Therrien constantly harped on him to dump the puck out, which he did.

Carrying the puck out is the mark of an elite puck-moving defenceman, and Subban does that at more than three times the rate of Weber.

A similar story applies to loose puck recoveries, where Subban is the envy of the league for winning puck battles in the defensive zone and Weber ranks 202nd, between Braydon Coburn and Jack Johnson.

Even in something as simple as completed passes, Subban’s numbers blow Weber’s out of the water, and this is without even getting into each player’s impact on shot attempt differentials, where Subban is perhaps the best possession defenceman in the NHL the past four years — easily in the top five — and Weber is a consistent negative, despite playing with Josi.


Now Weber will move from playing with Josi to the 38-year-old Andrei Markov who, while supremely talented, is certainly not fleet of foot. Neither of these two defenders move particularly well, making this look like a recipe for disaster.

This trade is so lopsided that it’s hard to believe it happened at all. The Canadiens have saved all of $1.14 million in cap space, but committed to an older player for four extra years. They’re on the hook for Weber’s July 1 signing bonus of $8 million and will pay him a total of $54 million until he’s 41 years old. Subban is owed just $58 million until age 33.

Subban established the biggest charitable donation in North American sports history to directly help sick children and their parents in Montreal. He won a Norris Trophy and was nominated for another. He signed his bridge contract despite having every reason not to. He was the Canadiens’ best skater for the past five years straight. He was the their most valuable player last season while most others were faltering, he bought into poor coaching instruction despite the fact it hurt his game — and he still elevated. He was beloved by Elise Beliveau, and captured the heart of a city.

So what did he do wrong?

polaris_x said:

polaris_x said:

rumours stamkos to toronto pretty much done deal ... not reliable at all ... but that's what I'm hearing ...

haha ... so much for that!

I am quite surprised, I figured Toronto had him once he came in for a visit ... guess he didn't like what he heard, of all the teams I heard mentioned ... Tampa is closest to the a cup championship, it also doesn't hurt that Florida is a income tax free state.

^^^Cash is an issue wth all Canadian teams, the dollar is worth 20% less that the US dollar and these contracts are in US $$$, a good chunk of the Canadian teams business is based in the US...so there at a 20 % disadvantage already ... in the end id say money was a factor and they can walk away from Weber when he's 36 with minimal damage, probably the same time they'd walk away from Subban.

If you are an analytics guy you aren't going to like Shea Weber. He's one of those guys you really need to watch every night to appreciate. I think Preds got the better end of the deal but it's not as lopsided as some people are acting.


Having said all of that as a Nashville season ticket holder I'm super excited to think about having Josi and Subban on the same team. Poile said yesterday they would be on the same pair but I think I would split them and have Subban/Ekholm and Josi/Ellis. I like the thought of having Josi or Subban out there for 48 minutes a night or so.

Stupid money and contracts being handed out today, of course.
Bring on the next lockout.

HesCalledDyer said:

MayDay10 said:

Nashville is going to be awesome.

Yes they are. And as a Blackhawks fan, I'm not amused.

Unfortunately not as good as Chicago.

So miserable.

Worst time of the year for hockey fans.