[Trevor3]

I really think Montreal won that trade.

Subban is a real good player, but I've never understood what made him 'elite'. He's sloppy in his own end, loses his position frequently, and has to rely entirely on his foot speed to try and recover from mistakes (he's fast so it kinda works), but he also has a real choppy stride. I've never understood why people call him a great skater, yes he's agile and fast, but he's not smooth and nice to watch like Paul Coffey was. He scored only 6 goals in 68 games last season and has never put up more than 15, but he's damn good at moving the puck and his 40+ assists per year are evidence of that. He gets $9 million per year. I don't think he brings much to the table on the defensive side of the game and he can throw 55-60 points on the board each year. That's a lot of money for that level of production. That's about 0.75 points per game.

Shea Weber is as good as there is in his own end. If Montreal wants a guy to lock it down in front of Price, there isn't a much better choice. He's not the fastest and won't jump into or lead the rush like Subban did, but he's also not being paid to do that. He should put up 15-20 goals, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50-55 points and take fewer penalties than Subban because he doesn't get caught running around his own zone. He can actually play defence. Age is getting a ton of airplay, people seem to forget that defencemen really do peak later. It's an experience position and a lot of defencemen are at their best between 30-34/35. Niedermayer won the Norris at 31 and the Conn Smythe at 34. Chris Pronger was still putting up numbers at 37 before he was done in by injury. There's no reason to think Montreal won't get a ton of mileage out of Weber. They'll get similar offensive production from Weber as Subban, better defensive zone play, fewer penalties, and he costs less against the cap. If he retires before age 40 the cap penalties are Nashville's problem not Montreal's.