Shea Weber Jersey Card

Like, seriously. No.

It's been what, like eight hours, and I'm still reeling about the trade, which I liken to the one that sent Patrick Roy from the Montréal Canadiens to the Colorado Avalanche - giving the star goalie two more Stanley Cups and sending the Habs into a ten-year abyss of mediocrity (and putting my passion for hockey on hiatus for some seven years).

And no offense to Shea Weber, a still-good defenseman who at one point may have been one of the two or three best in the league; unfortunately for him, Nicklas Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara and Duncan Keith were around, so all he got were top-three finishes. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

And now he gets traded one-for-one for P.K. Subban, the Princess Bride, if I may continue with the wedding metaphors.

Just as most of the good stuff you want in a defenseman was synonymous with Weber until, say, 2013, that's pretty much when Subban decided he wanted to be a dominant force in the NHL and started to improve his defensive play. By this I mean Subban's pretty darn close to a Drew Doughty with more offensive upside nowadays, whereas Weber still has his booming slap shot, his huge heart and his leadership skills... and that's pretty much it; he has slowed down a lot.

He was third on the Preds in ice time last year, and his play in Game 7 against the San Jose Sharks single-highhandedly eliminated his team - which isn't very becoming of a captain... that's signed until 2025. Roman Josi's been the go-to defender on Nashville's blue line for at least two years now, and he got a few Norris votes himself this year.

I mean, c'mon:

On the bright side, I know he's still got a good year or two in him; knowing the Montréal crowd, however, they will turn on him soon enough, and he'll probably have to be bought out after four or five seasons, leaving the Habs with a $25M cap hit to spread over eight or ten seasons. I hope he realizes it's not his fault, it's just that people loved Subban, who will be better for longer.

Here he is wearing the Preds' white (away) Reebok Edge uniform, from Upper Deck's 2010-11 Series 1 set, featuring a small blue game-worn jersey swatch:

It's card #GJ-SW from the UD Game Jersey sub-set.