Dale Weise totally destroyed the Montreal Canadiens fans...

Many fans were surprised by this news, as the Montreal captain has slowed down considerably on the ice over the years. In addition, the Habs will have approximately $7.8 million more on their payroll, as Weber will be placed on the long-term injured list. However, Dale Weise, a former Canadiens forward who has had his own podcast for quite some time, was keen to bring down to earth the critics who are happy about Weber's absence.

In his most recent podcast, Weise literally mentioned that Weber's leadership was invaluable to the Canadiens organization, which will inevitably suffer in the absence of its captain.

"Shea took over a team that was really suffering from a lack of leadership in 2016-2017. We had a very good team in 2014-2015, but clearly lacked a Shea Weber to take control and establish his leadership. I'm a big believer in culture, I'm a big believer in culture. I don't care what Shea Weber is currently doing on the ice. I've been in the locker room with him, I've seen what he does off the ice, it's made the locker room very responsible. No one is going to try to be bigger than the team if you have Shea Weber in the dressing room. I use the Flyers as an example, where there was no coaching on that team, no coaches, no group of leaders. If there had been a Shea Weber, a situation like that would never have happened."

Weise shared his thoughts on Weber's detractors. He obviously wasn't planning on laughing.

"Those who allow themselves to shit on Weber's head, make me 'flip'. The impact that this guy will have on Suzuki, Kotkaniemi and Romanov is indescribable, it is invaluable as a contribution to a team. It makes me angry when fans personally attack Shea Weber, because it's so easy to criticize him. It's so disrespectful to his career and his impact in the locker room."

Weise even had his own little idea where he would rank Shea Weber among the best captains he's ever had. I'll let you guess where he ranks...

"I've had some great captains in my career, Henrik Sedin, Jonathan Toews, Brian Gionta and Max Pacioretty, those were really great, but Shea is at the top of my list."

Do you agree with the former Canadiens' comments?