On Wednesday, the Nashville Predators and Montreal Canadiens each committed to different visions of the future.
In Montreal, general manager Marc Bergevin doubled down on old-school hockey virtues. Shea Weber is a paragon of the old ways, a mammoth defenceman with exemplary defensive zone positioning, a cannon of a shot and who always hits to hurt.
The Predators went a different route. In P.K. Subban, they added a player who excels by the new metrics, Corsi and Fenwick, a quick and aggressive rearguard who occasionally takes risk in the hope of greater reward. They also got younger, banking that Subban in his prime will be a better player than Weber in his 30s.
It’s hard not to like Nashville’s decision, even while we must acknowledge Weber’s unique attributes.
Weber, who is occasionally and mistakenly dismissed as second-rate by the odd extremist in the analytics community, is a good player. The things he does well are important. Watching him play, I’ve always been struck by how well he patrols the border of the scoring chance area in the defensive zone and how effective he ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
Predators Fleece Canadiens in P.K. Subban Trade, Become Quiet Western Contender
June 29th, 2016 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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