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P.K. Subban moves from Montreal to the Music City in shocking trade

30 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, P.K. Subban, Peter Laviolette, Shea Weber

Two summers ago, the Montreal Canadiens showed defenseman P.K. Subban the money, signing him to an eight-year $72 million deal. Wednesday, the Habs showed him the door.

Damn, what happened?

A Hab no more. Defenseman P.K. Subban heads to the Nashville Predators in a surprising trade.

A Hab no more. Defenseman P.K. Subban heads to the Nashville Predators in a surprising trade.

Either the Canadiens front office lost its mind or lost its patience and dealt fan-favorite Subban, the 2013 Norris Trophy winner as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, straight-up for All-Star D-man Shea Weber.

Montreal General Manager Marc Bergevin maintained that the swap of the 27-year-old Subban for the 30-year-old Weber will help the Canadiens move from a non-playoff-appearing 38-38-6 team to an eventual Stanley Cup contender.

“We completed today an important transaction which I am convinced will make the Canadiens a better team,” the general manager said.”In Shea Weber, we get a top rated NHL defenseman with tremendous leadership, and a player who will improve our defensive group as well as our power play for many years to come. Shea Weber led all NHL defensemen last season with 14 power play goals. He is a complete rearguard with impressive size and a powerful shot. P.K. Subban is a special and very talented player. He provided the Canadiens organization with strong performances on the ice and generous commitment in the community. I wish him the best of luck with the Predators.”

Hmmm, so much to decode here. But you don’t need to

D-man Shea Weber goes to Montreal from Nashville for Subban.

D-man Shea Weber goes to Montreal from Nashville for Subban.

be Luther, President Barack Obama’s fictional anger translator from “Key & Peele,” to know that Bergevin’s statement was a stinging Gordie Howe backhand aimed right at Subban.

In praising Weber, Bergevin took not-so-veiled digs at Subban’s leadership qualities,

his ability to play well with others, and his overall game on the blue line.

It’s no secret that Subban’s flamboyant, high-risk playing style drove Canadiens Head Coach Michel Therrien nuts at times. And there were rumblings of discontent among some Habs players with Subban this season.

And, of course, the trade is the latest chapter in the Great P.K. Subban Debate. Several members of the hockey establishment argue that his game is more style than substance and some old school hockey heads complain that he’s too colorful a personality.

Subban supporters say his swashbuckling playing style and larger-than-life personality have been good for the game. They argue that he’s been disrespected by the hockey intelligentsia for not fitting the cookie-cutter mold of what an NHLer should be. Some question whether race is a factor.

Subban’s been on the receiving end of several high-profile snubs. Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock, when he coached the Gold Medal-winning Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, played Subban for only 11 minutes – all in one game.

This year, Hockey Canada didn’t include him om the roster for the Canadian squad that will compete in the World Cup of Hockey in September.

Subban’s Canadiens teammates passed him over last season to be the team’s nominee for the NHL’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy – presented to the player who exhibits leadership on and off the ice and has contributed to the community – despite the fact that he pledged $10 million to Montreal’s Children’s Hospital, the biggest philanthropic commitment by any athlete in Canadian history.

BREAKING NEWS: @PKSubban1 responds after being traded from the Canadiens to the Predators.https://t.co/nQjW6gnpiO

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) June 29, 2016

Subban seemed to take Wednesday’s trade in the same fluid stride he’s taken the previous slights. He told Nashville reporters via conference call Wednesday that “Right now, I’m going to a team that wants me” He added that he felt “a whole lot closer” to winning a Stanley Cup with Nashville than he did in Montreal.

“On the business side of things, the Montreal Canadiens paid me a lot of money two years ago to do what I do for a living,” he said. “At the end of the day I just wanted to come in and do my job. But obviously right now I’m going to a team that wants me and the Montreal Canadiens felt that they had to take it down a different path.”

Some key 2015-16 statistics don’t show much space between Weber and Subban. Weber was ninth among NHL defensemen in scoring with 20 goals and 31 assists for 51 points in 78 games. He was third on the Predators in scoring.

Subban  was 12th among  the league’s defensemen, matching Weber’s 51 points on 6 goals and 45 assists in an injury-plagued 68 games. He was Montreal’s fourth-leading scorer last season.

Embed from Getty Images

 

Weber, touted as the more defensively responsible blue liner, had a plus-minus rating of minus-7. Subban was a plus-4.

Weber averaged 25:12 minutes per game and 29.9 shifts per game. Subban logged an average of 26:21 minutes per game and 28.3 shifts per game.

Weber was the more effective power play scorer – Bergevin’s main point – with 14 goals compared to Subban’s 2 in 2015-16. Neither player had a game-winning goal last season.

Subban and Weber have one other thing in common. Neither has been able in recent seasons to get their teams over the hump to the Stanley Cup Final.

Needless to say, the trade hasn’t gone down well with hockey fans in and out of Montreal. A New York Post headline read “P.K. Subban Trade is Canadiens Purging NHL’s Biggest Persona.”

The Montreal Gazette quotes fans calling the trade “Ridiculous,” “insane,” “a disgrace.” Welcome to Montreal, Shea Weber.

So, on the same date that #Habs traded Chris Chelios 26 years ago, they ship away PK Subban. We know how the Chelios trade turned out.

— Szymon Szemberg (@Sz1909_Szemberg) June 29, 2016

PK Subban is going to play his home games in Nashville, Tennessee and maybe I am moving to Nashville, Tennessee IDK who knows

— Travis Hughes (@TravisSBN) June 29, 2016

WHAT?! https://t.co/BWA1UcjyCy

— Isaiah Mustafa (@isaiahmustafa) June 29, 2016

Holy shit PK Subban got traded straight up for Shea Weber!

— Georges Laraque (@GeorgesLaraque) June 29, 2016

Jack Todd: Subban's brash, confident style was never a fit with Habs https://t.co/GHn68i0oKy

— Montreal Gazette (@mtlgazette) June 30, 2016

With Subban in the fold,  the Predators are taking a different approach that the team hopes will lead to a Stanley Cup. Nashville historically was a defense-first team under Head Coach Barry Trotz.

Trotz was replaced two seasons ago by Peter Laviolette, who likes his defenseman to be able to move the puck quickly out of their zone and initiate offense – either through pinpoint passes or skating.

Though Laviolette is a no-nonsense coach in the Therrien mold, Subban should thrive in Laviolette’s system.

“In P.K., when people might talk about him, it’ll be his skating, the fact that he can transport the puck himself, the fact that he can distribute the puck, he’s constantly in motion,” Laviolette said. “He has worn a letter in the National Hockey League, was being considered for captain of the Montreal Canadiens, so there’s leadership quality there as well.”

In addition to his skating ability and 100-mph-plus slap shot from the point, Subban brings something to the Predators that the franchise has never had – star power, someone who can put butts in seats.

Though Subban was enormously  popular among fans in Montreal he was never the face of the franchise, not with all-world goaltender Carey Price and U.S.-born team captain Max Pacioretty there.

He’s poised to be The Man in Nashville.

“P.K. Subban is an elite offensive defenseman with tremendous skill and contagious energy that makes the Nashville Predators a better team now and into the future,” said Nashville GM David Poile. “Superstar defensemen of his caliber are a rare commodity, and we are thrilled to add him to the organization.”

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Nashville Predators’ Seth Jones named to 2014 U.S. World Championship team

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Dan Bylsma, International Ice Hockey Federation, Nashville Predators, Peter Laviolette, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins., Seth Jones, USA Hockey

Nashville Predators defenseman Seth Jones’ rookie National Hockey League season is over, with the Preds failing to make the playoffs, but his hockey year is far from being done.

No NHL playoffs for Nashville's Seth Jones but more international hockey as a Team USA member.

No NHL playoffs for Nashville’s Seth Jones but more international hockey as a Team USA member.

Jones was among the first 15 players named Tuesday to the U.S. Men’s National Team that will play in the 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship May 9-25 in Minsk, Belarus. Jones, the fourth player selected in the 2013 NHL Draft, played in 77 games for the Predators and tallied six goals and 19 assists. He averaged 19:37 minutes on ice per game.

Jones adds a wealth of international experience to the U.S. squad, having played for U.S. national development teams since 2010-11.  He was a member of U.S. junior teams that won Gold Medals in 2013, 2012, and 2011. The son of former NBA player Popeye Jones was invited to the 2014 U.S. men’s hockey team’s pre-Olympic orientation camp last summer, the only invitee who hadn’t played in an NHL game.

He didn’t make the U.S. Olympic team but USA Hockey officials made it clear that Jones is definitely on their radar for the 2016 Winter Olympics, if the NHL sends its players to the Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. In the meantime, playing in the 2014 Worlds will mean that Jones will postpone rest for what already has been a long hockey period for him.  He started the 2012-13 season with the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks, then played in the Junior World Championship, then returned to the Winterhawks for hockey’s Memorial Cup championship. He took about two-three weeks off between the time the Winterawks lost to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Halifax Mooseheads in the Memorial Cup final and the 2013 NHL Draft. “It definitely felt like a 12-year – er, 12 month season,” Jones said at the pre-Olympic orientation camp.

Jones could be a vital cog in USA Hockey rebuilding its national team after an American squad filled with NHL players failed to medal at

the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  That team was led by Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma. USA Hockey

Former Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette seeks to improve U.S. hockey team's performance.

Former Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette seeks to improve U.S. hockey team’s performance.

Tuesday named former Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Peter Laviolette the bench boss of the 2014 men’s national team.

Laviolette served as an assistant coach in Sochi. Laviolette and his players will look to avenge the poor U.S. performance in Sochi and

improve upon the Bronze Medal the Americans won at the 2013 Worlds played in Helsinki and Stockholm last May.

The other players named to the team Tuesday were New York Islanders defenseman Matt Donovan; Torontoa Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner; Florida Panthers forward Jimmy Hayes; Boston College forward Kevin Hayes; goaltender Connor Hellebuyck of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe; forward Peter Mueller of Switzerland’s Kloten Flyers; New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson; Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jeff Petry; Florida Panthers forward Drew Shore; Nashville Predators forward Craig Smith; forward Tim Stapleton of the AK Bars Kazan of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League; Florida Panthers forward Vince Trocheck; and Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba.

The rest of the U.S. roster could be filled later with NHL players whose teams didn’t make the Stanley Cup Playoffs or are eliminated in the early rounds.

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