Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz has a good understanding of Montreal Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber.

The two were together with the Nashville Predators from Weber’s draft day in June of 2003 through Trotz’s firing at the end of the 2013-14 season. Trotz saw the maturation of Weber from young second-round draft pick to the brawny, bearded blue liner with a howitzer of a shot. The two also have homes in Western Canada near one another and remain close off the ice.

The Habs acquired Weber for P.K. Subban in a deal that hasn’t been popularly received by Montreal fans. Trotz believes the Habs faithful will embrace Weber once he hits the ice for the team in the regular season.

“The one thing I would say is the Montreal people are getting a tremendous defenseman and a tremendous person and a tremendous teammate for the Montreal Canadiens,” Trotz said. “He brings a great pedigree. He has a couple of gold medals. He’s a great leader. He’s a strong person on and off the ice, all those things.”

Trotz has a connection to another player acquired by Montreal in the offseason. He was the only NHL head coach for Alexander Radulov. Trotz was Radulov’s coach in his first two stints in the league and then two seemed to struggle with their relationship, but Trotz thinks an older, more mature Radulov could succeed with the Habs.

“I think he’s going to come and he’s going to do very well in Montreal. I think he’s going to embrace the spotlight,” Trotz said. “He’s not a guy who is afraid of playing in a big market or a critical market so I think he’ll do fine.”

In Part II of our phone interview with Trotz, we asked him for his thoughts on Weber and Radulov in Montreal along with his assessment of the Capitals’ 2016 playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. We also wanted his take on Ukrainian Night at a junior game in his hometown of Dauphin, Manitoba last year.

Q: I feel like there’s no coach in the NHL who knows Shea Weber like you do. What will he bring to the Montreal Canadiens and do you feel bad for him that he has to replace such a popular player in P.K. Subban?

Trotz: The one thing I would say is the Montreal people are getting a tremendous defenseman and a tremendous person and a tremendous teammate for the Montreal Canadiens. He brings a great pedigree. He has a couple of gold medals. He’s a great leader. He’s a strong person on and off the ice, all those things. P.K. was beloved in Montreal. I hope the Montreal fans recognize that they traded a popular defenseman who is a very good defenseman, he won the Norris Trophy one year, but they’re getting a superstar in Shea Weber as well in return, but a different type of player. P.K. likes to carry the mail, likes to skate, is all over the ice. Shea is positionally very strong, moves the puck out, moves up with the play and finishes. He scores goals with his shot. He’s not going to make those end-to-end rushes that P.K. tries every shift. They’re totally different players. I do know this, our players who play against Shea Weber, they know Shea Weber is on the ice and he’s hard to play against. He’s a beast. P.K. is a very good player. They don’t fear P.K. for his physicality and all that. You have to worry about him getting up the ice and creating that odd-man rush, or beating you one-on-one. They’re just opposite players. I think that trade will probably be good for both. David (Poile) and Nashville seemed very happy and I know Marc Bergevin is changing his team by getting guys like Weber and Andrew Shaw. They’re putting a lot more sandpaper in their team. They’re going to get Carey Price back. I like the moves both teams made in that. I know this, that Shea Weber is a tremendous player and Montreal got a tremendous player as well as Nashville got a good player in (the trade). I think it was probably from Montreal’s standpoint is, I don’t know much about the trade other than what I read in the media. It seems like it was initiated more from the Montreal end because of the rumors that were out there. If that’s the case, they know what they wanted to do to add to the dressing room or delete from the dressing room. You have to give them credit for recognizing that and going out and doing that.

Along similar lines, I know that no coach in the NHL knows Alex Radulov like you do. Do you think he has matured from when you last saw him? What do you know of him now and what can he bring to Montreal? Have you guys buried the hatchet?

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