Subban Trade - looking to the future!
This trade rocked Habs Nation throughout the world, I would know, living in London, England. This trade had me go through a whole load of emotions, at the time when I heard about the trade, I was at work on a night shift thinking that I would have a normal night’s work when this shocker happened, I immediately had to step away and take a breather.
Putting my initial emotions aside, which from what can be seen all around social media and in the papers are shared emotions, lets discuss this trade.
PK Subban has to be a lot of Montreal Canadiens’ fans favourite player, I know he was mine, but hey…. he got traded, this happens in Hockey all the time, Nay, it happens in sports all the time. This is something that we Habs fans need to accept - whilst I’m writing this, I realise that the hype has died down about the trade, but there are still many that are bashing the organisation and Marc Bergevin for making this deal.
The deal is not bad - yes, we lost arguably our best player, a franchise player, a top personality, but have acquired another top defensemen, a great leader, the league’s hardest slapshot, a great defensemen, albeit an ageing one. This is what most Habs fans are upset about, the contract, Weber’s contract length. Even though he has 10 years left on this contract (which will bring him to be 41 at the end),Marc Bergevin is clearly trying to bring home Lord Stanley’s Cup in the upcoming seasons, what with acquiring Andrew Shaw (a deal that saw Lars Eller traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for second-round selections in 2017 and 2018), a great First Round pick at the NHL Draft 2016 in Mikhail Sergachev, and Alex Radulov, along with with further movement since the Free Agency opened.
Montreal forward said not having to go against big, physical defenseman is ‘a huge positive’
This should be a statement to all Montreal Canadiens fans, that the Montreal Organisation is planning some great things for the future. There is a reason why Subban was traded, the organisation clearly felt that the rift in the changing room which had been denied at so many points during the course of the 2015-16 season, was too much, and something had to be done. And….. of course, the Superstar who had disagreements with the Coaching staff, and was a cause to the rift, had to go. Bergevin did the right thing I believe for the team (something that hurts to say, who would have thought that this day would come, especially when remembering cheering for Subban at the Bell Centre, and all his off the ice antics, and great Charity Donation). Subban will be missed, but we all need to accept the organisation’s decision, welcome and embrace Shea Weber, and look forward to seeing his crunching hits (”Andrew Shaw happy he’s with Shea Weber - New Montreal forward said not having to go against big, physical defenseman is 'a huge positive’) and incredible slapshots working for our beloved Montreal Canadiens.
The Power play has been the talking point around many Hockey conversions, the Montreal Canadiens’ Power play is not working, and something needs to clearly change. With this off-season moves, lets hope they do,the statistics show that with Weber, they should, but again, along with the risky signing (yet exciting signing) of Radulov, only time will tell if these moves will pay dividends.
Not to downplay PK Subban, but I think that our team is looking good, even without his skill and power, I may even quote Geoff Molson: "No, I’m not surprised how the fans have reacted, I think that P.K. is a bigger-than-life person on and off the ice, and our fans love him, and still will love him, and I heard a lot of it on my Twitter account and I appreciate that. But I also appreciate what I’ve hired Marc to do, and that is to make our team better, and I’m confident he has done that…. and I’m really looking forward to seeing the evolved team on the ice and I think our fans are going to really appreciate the improvements.“
Here’s to looking to the future, and seeing how these new pieces will fit in, how Michel Therrien will make them fit, and make them work.
I’m excited to see what next season brings, although there has been a lot changes throughout the league, I am, and of course always will be, most excited about the changes to the Montreal Canadiens, especially this season!