It will be an emotional night in Nashville this evening as Shea Weber makes his awaited return in a Montreal Canadiens uniform. An in-game tribute has been planned for the former Predators captain who was the face of the franchise for so long. As much as Canadiens fans were shocked to see P.K. Subban traded, at least there had been whispers in the air. For Predators and Weber fans, the trade was akin to a complete blindside, no one expected that Weber would possibly or even could be traded.
Both players have fully embraced their new teams and immersed themselves into the fabric of their respective new cities yet still remain close with their former homes. While it is unfortunate that Subban will miss the game with a herniated disc, perhaps it will allow the spotlight to shine a little more on Weber and the off ice noise will be less of a distraction. It will be slightly easier to simply focus on getting those much needed two points. There is little doubt that when Subban returns to Montreal in March it will very much have the environment of a circus.
It is impossible to judge the trade now as we are not even midway through the 2016-2017 season. For the short term Weber is outplaying Subban and contributing more to the Canadiens success but there is still much more hockey to be played before a winner or loser can be named in this mega trade.
At practice this morning, a patented Weber hard shot hit Max Pacioretty and his status will only be known at game time. If he is unable to go Bobby Farnham will get into his first game in a Canadiens jersey. As announced, Carey Price will get the start in net. All of the attention on Weber has allowed the return of Alexander Radulov to Nashville slip under the radar. It will be interesting to see if Predators fans boo him as their lasting memories of him are not of the positive variety...
Despite all of the Canadiens injury woes, they remain first in the Atlantic division, sixth points up on the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins. They will be hoping to improve their very average road record which at the moments is just 7-6-4. The Predators are fifth in the Central division with just 38 points on the season and are currently out of the playoff picture. Pekka Rinne will get the start in net while the lines will look like:
Forsberg-Johansen-Arvidsson Wilson-Fisher-Neal Fiala-Ribeiro-Smith Sissons-Jarnkrok-Watson
Defence:
Roman Josi - Ryan Ellis Mattias Ekholm - Matt Irwin Yannick Weber - Petter Granberg
Puck drops at 8pm.
Cheers and follow along! Follow @Jenbcutler