LOL, Niskanen is about as good as Weber???? Not even close

LOL, Niskanen is about as good as Weber???? Not even close

are you trolling or something. Niskanen.....lmaoo

Montreal could get a heck of a lot more for Weber. Niskanen and Orpik aren’t going to help Montreal now or in a rebuild, if you throw in picks and prospects and you might be on to something.

Y'all are undervaluing Matt Niskanen. Nisk starts 10% more of his shifts behind the red line than Weber and has 12 more even strength points this year. Stick him on Montreal's power play and it couldn't get worse. It might actually improve because they'll have the puck more of the time. Weber throws his weight around and has an epic slap shot. Niskanen just gets things done quietly. He's a really nice guy to play against until the playoffs. Just gets the puck away and gets it up ice so his teammates can score. Weber has turned into more of a power play specialist. This is a cap dump for Washington, no more, no less. Niskanen is better, younger, and cheaper than Weber, but has fewer years left on his contract and Weber will eventually be cheaper, plus Montreal, while rebuilding, likely has space to take on Orpik's contract to start the season.

Maybe the Caps throw in some mid-round picks for window-dressing, but they're already losing this trade, straight up, if it's Niskanen for Weber, and one year of Orpik at 5.5M is starting to look reasonable. If Montreal needs picks and prospects, they'll have a much easier time getting them at the trade deadline for the moderate cap hits and short terms remaining on Orpik's and Niskanen's deals than trying to trade seven more years of Weber at 8M elsewhere.

The only reason this doesn't happen is because casual fans like y'all don't known Niskanen's name, but they remember Weber's past achievements, so Weber on the ice is almost as exciting to watch as an actual winning team.

Incidentally, that's also the main reason Washington makes this trade.

Y'all are undervaluing Matt Niskanen. Nisk starts 10% more of his shifts behind the red line than Weber and has 12 more even strength points this year. Stick him on Montreal's power play and it couldn't get worse. It might actually improve because they'll have the puck more of the time. Weber throws his weight around and has an epic slap shot. Niskanen just gets things done quietly. He's a really nice guy to play against until the playoffs. Just gets the puck away and gets it up ice so his teammates can score. Weber has turned into more of a power play specialist. This is a cap dump for Washington, no more, no less. Niskanen is better, younger, and cheaper than Weber, but has fewer years left on his contract and Weber will eventually be cheaper, plus Montreal, while rebuilding, likely has space to take on Orpik's contract to start the season.


Its much harder to play against weber offensively and defensively then Niskanen. Nobody said Niskanen was bad, but theres no way he is valuable enough that the habs not only take on orpiks contract but also have to give away a 2nd and 4th

Maybe the Caps throw in some mid-round picks for window-dressing, but they're already losing this trade, straight up, if it's Niskanen for Weber, and one year of Orpik at 5.5M is starting to look reasonable. If Montreal needs picks and prospects, they'll have a much easier time getting them at the trade deadline for the moderate cap hits and short terms remaining on Orpik's and Niskanen's deals than trying to trade seven more years of Weber at 8M elsewhere.

The only reason this doesn't happen is because casual fans like y'all don't known Niskanen's name, but they remember Weber's past achievements, so Weber on the ice is almost as exciting to watch as an actual winning team.

Incidentally, that's also the main reason Washington makes this trade.

Niskanen is one year younger then Weber. One year. He’s a good underrated defenseman. Weber is an elite defenseman having a bad year due to a foot injury and still producing way more than Niskanen despite being on a much worse team. Weber can also be bought out towards the end of his contract and Nashville would be responsible for the majority of it. Either way Weber is still an top defenseman in the league and Niskanen although good will never be comparable.

"Its much harder to play against [W]eber offensively and defensively th[a]n Niskanen. Nobody said Niskanen was bad, but theres no way he is valuable enough that the [H]abs not only take on [O]rpik[']s contract but also have to give away a 2nd and 4th"

Niskanen has more points at even strength this year than Weber has total.



Then how come he hasn't won at least one playoff round in all of the last five seasons, while Orpik and Niskanen have?

I think the Caps consider this trade because Orlov and Carlson can be an effective top pair, and Weber can probably teach their two outstanding rookie defensemen some things about offense that neither of their previous mentors could show them, but it's a salary cap motivated trade. Arguing that Weber is better than Niskanen just invites the question of how far he got in the playoffs with Nashville.