Perhaps the biggest shock of the NHL off-season was the trade of P.K. Subban from Montreal to Nashville in exchange for Shea Weber. The immediate reaction was an uproar that the Canadiens had lost the trade which, in the long run, could very well prove true.
But Weber is no slouch of a defenceman and a mainstay on any Team Canada blue line. Today, he is one of the top defenders in the game with a huge physical component and the hardest shot in the NHL today.
Don Cherry said he doesn’t get what all the uproar was about.
“What makes me laugh, at the start everybody was talking about Weber and how bad he was and everything,” Cherry said Saturday on Coach’s Corner. “Subban did not fit in to the way they want to play. Weber is perfect. We’ve got two howitzers going here. Subban, he’s perfect down there (in Nashville). You see him at the football game throwing swords around and stuff like that?
“This guy (Weber) is a horse. The only reason he didn’t win the Norris was because he was in Nashville and nobody knew he was alive.”
So far this season, Weber has three goals and nine points, while Subban has two goals and five points.
Cherry also weighed in on the goaltending in Alberta, a week after he challenged Maple Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen for his poor start in Toronto.
Cam Talbot is off to a 7-1-0 start with a .934 save percentage for the Oilers, his second season with Edmonton, while Brian Elliott has bounced back from his terrible start and has a .944 save percentage in his past three games — all wins.
“Show me a good goalie and I’ll show you a good coach,” Cherry said.
“This guy (Talbot) all they needed last year, their goaltending was terrible last year. This guy is fantastic. Listen, McDavid and those guys are good, but let’s lay the cards on the table: this is the guy that’s winning them the games.
And he continued to gush over Elliott, who has quietly been one of the league’s best goalies for the past five years.
“Do you know, since 2011, he’s (Elliott) had the best save percentage in the league? And the reason they (the Blues) had to get rid of him was the cap. And I’m glad for (Flames coach Glen) Gulutzan. I told you he was a good coach. He won the Calder Cup in the American Hockey League and he’s not looking at the clock anymore.”
