The Hockey News Archive
Longtime Nashville Predators and Montreal Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Monday night in Toronto, cementing his legacy as one of the NHL and hockey’s greatest blueliners ever.
In this feature story from The Hockey News’ special “Top 100 Defensemen Of All-Time” issue in 2020 (Volume 73, Issue 10), Ryan Kennedy profiled Weber’s outstanding career and what made him the 45th-best blueliner in hockey history.
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Weber appeared in 1,038 regular-season NHL games, putting up 365 assists and 589 points in that span. The 39-year-old is one of the younger players to become a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, but that speaks to his elite skills at an early age and the lasting impact he made in Nashville and Montreal.
Weber came close to winning a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 2021 in the season after this special edition issue was released, but he is still one of the more decorated blueliners of his era. Predators and Canadiens fans will always remember him fondly.
Check out the original story below, with updated stats at the beginning. Keep in mind that Weber’s contract lasts until the summer of 2026 and belongs to the Utah Hockey Club. The Canadiens traded it to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022, which then traded it to the Arizona Coyotes in 2023. But as for teams that Shea Weber played NHL games with, Nashville and Montreal are the only two.
TOP DEFENSEMEN, NO. 45: SHEA WEBER
By Ryan Kennedy
Born: Aug. 14, 1985, Sicamous, B.C.
NHL Career: 2006 to 2021
Teams: NSH, MTL
Stats: GP 1,038 G 224 A 365 P 589 PIM 714
All-Star: 4 (First-2, Second-2)
When Shea Weber was a kid in tiny Sicamous, B.C., his dad brought a piece of plywood home from the sawmill he worked at so Weber would have a sturdy target for shooting practice. That’s how one of the deadliest weapons in the history of hockey was forged.
Weber’s slapshot has punctured nets at the Olympics and broken boards in Nashville. Brave be the man who flings himself in front of the burly defenseman’s cannon.
A late bloomer who played on the same WHL Kelowna blueline as Duncan Keith and Josh Gorges, Weber was drafted in the second round by Nashville in 2003. He worked his way into the Predators lineup, taking in lessons from the likes of Jason Arnott and Kimmo Timonen. Weber was named Preds captain in 2010-11, and the franchise won its first playoff series that season.
Money was tight in Nashville in that era, and in the summer of 2012, Weber signed an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers worth $110 million over 14 years. But the Predators knew what they had in Weber and matched the offer in order to retain their captain. He continued to be a nasty, physical presence in Nashville until the summer of 2016, when he was involved in one of the most shocking trades in recent history: flipped to Montreal for defenseman P.K. Subban.
As a member of the Habs, Weber has been hampered by injuries, but his leadership has never been in question, and after two years in Montreal, he was named captain. Along the way, Weber has put an unmistakable mark on the hockey world, winning two Olympic gold with Canada and one each at the World Championship and World Cup.
His 218 career goals are the most by a defenseman this century and 18th all-time. (Archive note: Brent Burns now holds the No. 1 spot for most goals by a defenseman this century with 255, although Weber’s updated total of 224 goals ranks second this century and 16th all-time.)
DID YOU KNOW?
It’s hard to believe the guy who once smashed Henrik Zetterberg’s head into the glass was ever lanky, but there was a time when Weber couldn’t afford to miss a meal: between 14 and 15, he sprung up five inches, taking him from 5-foot-9 to 6-foot-2.
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