Shea Weber to join teammates in Montreal Saturday for first time in months
It is being reported that defenceman Shea Weber will join his teammates in Montreal Saturday for the first time since November of 2021. According to Luc Gelinas of 91.9 Sports Radio, Weber will be in town for the players' annual exit physicals and will join his teammates for a review of the season with GM Kent Hughes and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton. Montreal plays its last game of the season on Friday.
Weber has taken a lot of heat lately for being invisible this season despite not being officially retired. Some are wondering whether a retirement announcement will come this weekend after the checkup, but there's no official word on that.
Weber last joined his teammates in Montreal near the end of November of 2021 when Marc Bergevin was fired as General Manager of the team after close to a decade. He also met the team for a game in Vancouver and attended the retirement ceremony of Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne, his former teammate. Weber took a lot of criticism from Montreal media for not being in attendance for the tribute to Guy Lafleur held this last weekend. Lafleur is, of course, one of the most celebrated members of the Montreal Canadiens in the team's long history, and some saw Weber's absence as a sign of disrespect. There is also speculation that Weber is staying out of the spotlight in order to avoid questions regarding his injuries. Weber has four seasons left on his current contract after this one. The annual cap hit is just under $8 million per season. However, the actual salary he is owed is much lower; $3 million for next season and then $1 million for the next three. Officially retiring would mean leaving that money on the table. It's more likely that Weber would prefer to "LTI-Retire", meaning he would stay on long-term injured reserve until his contract runs out. That said, Weber could still announce that he is never playing again if he chose to do so. Marion Hossa made it clear long before his contract was up that a skin disorder meant he would no longer play again. His official retirement came this year when his contract ended.
Whether Weber deserves the criticism for being away from the team so much this season is a matter of personal opinion. There may be a good reason why this has happened; something Weber would rather keep private. But in a hockey-crazed market like Montreal, the speculation from media will continue until something is officially announced.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 27 | 180 ANSWERS Shea Weber to join teammates in Montreal Saturday for first time in months Does Shea Weber deserve criticism for not attending the tribute to Guy Lafleur? | ||
| Yes, he should have been there | 68 | 37.8 % |
| No, it's really not a big issue | 69 | 38.3 % |
| I'm not sure | 43 | 23.9 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Tage Thompson | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Simon Benoit | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Evan Bouchard | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Michael Carcone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Cozens | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Barrett Hayton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Calle Jarnkrok | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Joel Kiviranta | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Larkin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Artturi Lehkonen | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Martin Necas | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Darnell Nurse | 1 | - | 1 | |
| William Nylander | 1 | - | 1 | |
| David Perron | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nick Schmaltz | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Josh Doan | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Max Domi | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 64 | 42 | 14 | 8 | 92 | |
Jets | 65 | 44 | 17 | 4 | 92 | |
Stars | 64 | 42 | 20 | 2 | 86 | |
Panthers | 64 | 40 | 21 | 3 | 83 | |
Golden Knights | 63 | 38 | 19 | 6 | 82 | |
Hurricanes | 64 | 38 | 22 | 4 | 80 | |
Maple Leafs | 63 | 38 | 22 | 3 | 79 | |
Oilers | 63 | 37 | 22 | 4 | 78 | |
Lightning | 63 | 37 | 22 | 4 | 78 | |
Avalanche | 64 | 38 | 24 | 2 | 78 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||