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When Shea Weber was playing at the World Cup of Hockey, Team Canada coach Mike Babcock called him a “Man Mountain.” Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin used the same nickname to describe Weber when he met with the media Monday morning in Brossard.

But in the Canadiens locker room, Weber has earned a different nickname: “Dad.” Andrew Shaw was the first teammate to call the 31-year-old defenceman “Dad” but the name has stuck.

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“There’s a lot of guys that call me that, actually,” Weber said.

“I don’t think I’m that old yet … although I am a Dad,” the father of two young children added while flashing a rare smile during an interview. “I don’t really pay attention to (the nickname) … I shouldn’t say I don’t pay attention to it because, obviously, I hear it a lot. But I don’t take it any specific way. It’s another nickname, I guess.”

After Monday’s practice, “Dad” — or “Mountain Man” — and his teammates headed for Nashville, where they will play the Predators Tuesday night (8 p.m., SNE, RDS, TSN Radio 690). It will be an emotional night for Weber, who spent 11 seasons in Nashville before last summer’s blockbuster trade that brought him to Montreal in exchange for P.K. Subban.