A closer look at Shea Weber, the newest member of the Habs

The Nashville Predators may be gaining a slick dresser and tenacious defenceman in P.K. Subban, but the trade has cost them their captain, the winner of this year's Messier NHL leadership award and a two-time gold medal Olympian.

• P.K. Subban traded to Nashville in blockbuster deal for Shea Weber
• Why P.K. Subban became one of Montreal's most beloved adopted sons

"I really grew up in the 10, 11 years I spent there," said a slightly rueful-sounding Shea Weber in a conference call Wednesday evening, just a couple of hours after the contentious trade was made official. 

"It'd be not human of me to say I'm not going to miss it ...but I've got to look at what's ahead of me now."

What's ahead, in the immediate sense, are big shoes to fill, at least in terms of Subban's reputation as the most generous, most hip and most beloved Hab.

"I'm not P.K. Subban," Weber said when he was asked about that reputation.

"I'm not going to try to be."

Small-town boy

Shea Weber is, in many ways, Subban's quintessential opposite: He's the son of a hairdresser and a sawmill worker who grew up in the small town of Sicamous, B.C., population 3,057.

As much as Subban is brash, bold and outspoken, Weber, at 30, is settled: He married his high school sweetheart, Bailey Munro, whom he met while playing junior hockey in Kelowna.

The couple have a two-year-old boy named Beckette.

Weber is known as a man of few words, described by The Tennessean newspaper as "quiet, succinct, stoic but polite." 

That slapshot

His prowess on the ice is something else entirely, especially his slapshot, which is known to "rip twine, break bones and create myths." 

And that's no exaggeration — his slapshots have broken the bones of at least four teammates over the years.

One shot clocked 174.6 km/h to win the prize for "hardest shot" at the NHL 2015 All Stars skills competition.

His slapshot also helped bring home two successive gold medals from the Winter Olympics.

In a 6-0 Canada win over Austria in Sochi, Twitter went wild over the speed of his shot:

And then there's the most memorable slapshot of them all: A wicked blast that drove the puck right through the net in a Team Canada game against Germany at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. 

That rocket, viewed 178,490 times-and-counting on Youtube, marked the true start of stardom for Number 6, who leaves the Predators after six seasons as captain with 443 points in 763 games.

While some fans are celebrating the trade, there's little doubt Shea Weber will be missed.

Generous spirit

Like Subban, the defenceman has a community spirit. With his former teammate, goalie Pekka Rinne, Weber launched a fund in 2013 to raise awareness and money for cancer research at Nashville's Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

Weber's mother, Tracy, was diagnosed with brain cancer when Shea Weber was just 15, from which she later died in 2010. Perhaps, in part, because of that, he is also a supporter of the B.C. Cancer Society and the Kelowna Children's Hospital.  

"You can't ask for more," said Habs GM Marc Bergevin about his newest acquisition. "His track record speaks for itself."

"He is topnotch." 

Montreal Canadiens fans have a wait-and-see attitude, stung as so many are by their hero Subban's departure. 

Weber, meanwhile, is stoic. He's keen to work hard and keep in shape all summer, to prove to the fans he still has legs.

He's also keen to join his old Team Canada pal Carey Price on the ice, and call the Bell Centre his home arena.

"Guys look forward to going there because they know it's going to be loud, packed, and the fans are very, very passionate," he said.

"I'm looking forward to just how passionate the fans are."