1) Norris rankings are asinine - look at Weber getting a 1st place vote from some lunatic.
They certainly are not "asinine". Every year, order notwithstanding, the top 10 defensemen get recognized pretty damn well using the 5-4-3-2-1 system. Seriously, go back through as many years as you can and tell us which defensemen should have been in the top 10 instead. In most years no one would argue about at least 8-9 of the 10 names, though some would order them differently within the 10 than others.
And you could remove that 1st place vote altogether and he still would have creamed Doughty in 7th place, btw.
2) He's a top20-top15 d-man if you take everything into account. He had a good year but it's a decline from last year (~10 points less) and he needed to be rested.
Relative to his peers, which is all that matters unless you're setting artificially high standards that you're not applying unfairly across the entire NHL player base, he actually had a better year than last year. More importantly though, he had a better year than the guy he was traded for.
2b) Weber wasn't good enough in the playoffs. His production and performance in games 5 and 6 was unacceptable. Not as bad as his shambolic performance in game7 against the Sharks the previous year, but that's of no matter to us, he's a Hab and we should want 8m dollar players to play like they want to win. Weber did not do enough. 0 points and -2 isn't good enough. The Rangers were easy prey and the team's leaders did not step up - not Weber, not Pacioretty, not Markov, and obviously not Plekanec. Radulov was the only player to really earn his keep, followed by Price. Weber had a fine series overall, but he was exhausted by the last two games and that's extremely worrisome. He already needed rest and it wasn't enough. No way is that acceptable - he needs to up his fitness and professionalism.
More rambling off base crap.
3) Stop bringing up Subban, seriously. It's ridiculous.
You stop portraying the trade as a legitimate reason to hate on management, and stop the ridiculous characterization of Weber's abilities and performance, and maybe you won't get your PK superfandom thrown back in your face.
3b) Subban's contract negotiations weren't one way. To deny or ignore the context in which those negotiations came about is to expose your lack of good faith in this discussion. Subban had all the leverage at that moment, after the bridge deal he had no reason to leave a cent off the table. Players have a limited career, they must earn every penny they can.
So? Speaking of lacking good faith, how is PK milking the Habs even harder than Weber milked the Predators supposed to represent Weber being the "selfish" one? I know... reasons?
3c) What Weber did was arrange a contract specifically designed to bankrupt Nashville, or make it damn close to bankrupting Nashville. That's the difference. That's negotiating in bad faith. We can disagree, so be it. Only one of the two signed the largest offer-sheet in history, and signed a contract that is illegal now - for good reason.
Something, something all the leverage, something, something limited careers, must earn every penny then can, something, something...
3d) I have no angst left over the trade...
Hahahahahaha
Hahaha
Hahahahahaha
or
4) The Norris votes do not reflect much at all. BargainBin didn't get a single vote for best GM despite all his moves. Subban was injured for a significant portion of the season and played under his capabilities around that injury. It means not much at all. That's why it's funny to celebrate Weber's 6th place finish like it's an achievement. He wasn't even close. His 175 Norris votes is dwarfed by Burns' 1437. He's closer to 0 than to actually winning the Norris.
Again, come back with your own top 10 from any season you like and show us which ones Norris voting missed. Order isn't as important as whether or not these "asinine" voters are at least recognizing the right people, right? And again, he still creamed 7th place, meaning he was not just solidly in the top 10, but really close to the top 5. Not even that far off the top 15-20 you (without basis) claim, but no one is "celebrating" his 6th place as much as pointing out to you (and others like you) that Weber, again, had a bigger impact this year than the guy he was traded for.
PK is a defenseman and by all accounts played excellent defense right up until the last game, his PPG overall was great and they faced some great teams, all of them better than the freaking Rangers. He did underproduce in the finals but the team was injured and the forwards snakebit. Only so much you can do as a QB. Also, the gag order wasn't a gag order, do some reading.
Nothing there is any different, on any level, than Weber's performance this year, no matter how much you try to spout from every mountain top about how bad he was in the last two games... providing exactly the same kind of play that Subban was lauded for every time HIS scoring dried up at the end of series'...
I'm complaining about Weber because he's a Hab. I didn't bring up Subban in relation to Weber, you guys did. I'm complaining about Weber because he sucked and we lost to the freaking Rangers. I'm complaining about Weber because he needed to be rested and his ice-time managed, as soon as he played heavy heavy minutes (like teams expect from their #1) he sucked the following game. The loss this year should be UNACCEPTABLE. Every player should be criticised. Weber doesn't need special, kid glove treatment. He's a grown man cashing massive, massive cheques in between his lake fishing trips. Maybe he should change his priorities and focus on his stamina, fitness, and puck skills? Maybe it's too late, he's earned a lot of his money, and will likely just coast off that.
Weber doesn't get "special treatment". What are you even going on about at this point? He clearly earned praise he deserved for a really strong season - just another in the chain that is his HoF career. Love that you're at least consistent in pinning all of your disappointment on this one player who was actually consistently among our best the whole way, but give PK the golden ticket to "just one of the guys and not expected to lead his team over the top" land.
Why aren't YOU, supposed Habs fans, more critical of the 8m dollar guy signed until the mid 2020s who is already on the decline? He got less points than last year, in fact the least points in a full season since 2008 (!!!), and needed to be rested and did not work with many partners until Markov came up to play with him. It's incredible that you guys just like to pretend like he's flawless, he's incredibly flawed in fact. And it has NOTHING to do with Subban.
Unlike you, I'll wait until there's actually some sort of decline to notice, and a degree of which that begets discussion/angst, before going off at as much length as you have on this topic.
