On Wednesday, the Nashville Predators and Montreal Canadiens each committed to different visions of the future.
In Montreal, general manager Marc Bergevin doubled down on old-school hockey virtues. Shea Weber is a paragon of the old ways, a mammoth defenceman with exemplary defensive zone positioning, a cannon of a shot and who always hits to hurt.
The Predators went a different route. In P.K. Subban, they added a player who excels by the new metrics, Corsi and Fenwick, a quick and aggressive rearguard who occasionally takes risk in the hope of greater reward. They also got younger, banking that Subban in his prime will be a better player than Weber in his 30s.