If there’s such a thing as a reluctant Hall of Famer, it could be Shea Weber.
His knee, hip, ankle, thumb and likely many other body parts were hurting when the 36-year-old did not return to the Montreal Canadiens lineup in the 2021-22 season after helping them to the Cup final.
Yet he didn’t want to call it quits.
“It was a great career and I wish it could’ve went longer,” Weber said ahead of Hall induction on Monday. “But there’s something that the body kind of tells you, you know it’s time and unfortunately it was tough because mentally I still felt like I could compete and contribute. Physically, I just had nothing, nothing left to give.
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“(Induction) means the world to me, let alone the last few years being difficult, still wanting to play. Obviously as (time away from the ice) gets longer, it’s a little bit easier. It’s still a pretty special moment that I didn’t expect and I’m honoured beyond belief for my family, myself and everyone that helped me along the way.”
Weber will look back and realize he managed to jam a lot into 16 seasons with the Nashville Predators, the Habs and some of Team Canada’s memorable on-ice accomplishments before best-on-best world hockey went into hibernation.
He certainly inflicted some pain on others along the way with his own trademark heavy howitzer, including five seasons with at least 200 shots on goal, five with multiple power-play goals — he was a defenceman who was a scourge for goalies.
In 2016, his shot was measured at more than 108 mph in the all-star game skills competition and still above 106 the year he retired. But his game was much more than velocity, as he hit hard and captained both Nashville and Montreal.
Predators general manager David Poile made what he called perhaps his toughest decision to swap Weber to Montreal for P.K. Subban in 2016. While Subban made a loud exit from Montreal, Weber had a more genteel arrival and, by the time he took a lead role in the Habs’ improbable run to the ‘21 Cup final, was a fan favourite.
He’ll also be honoured for his Hall designation in Montreal at a home game next week against Columbus.
“Shea definitely was one of our greatest, greatest players,” said Poile, who is going in the Hall with him. “Certainly, along with our coach Barry Trotz and a few other guys, mainly Shea and maybe (goalie) Pekka Rinne are the guys that defined Predators hockey and made us competitive coming out of expansion.”
Weber said two players shaped his career: Eric Lindros for his physicality and Rob Blake for his two-way play on the blueline. All three will now be in the Hall as well.
SHEA WEBER
POSITION: Defence
BORN: Aug. 15, 1985 in Sicamous, B.C.
BY THE NUMBERS
In his last two years of junior hockey with Kelowna of the WHL, had 107 regular-season and playoff points in 143 games … In his 1,000-game NHL career, had at least 40 points in nine seasons with Montreal and Nashville … Had six points in seven games for Canada in its gold-medal run at the 2010 Olympics.
HALL CALL
Two Memorial Cups with Kelowna … Two world championships in addition to the 2010 gold in Vancouver with Canada …Part of the 2017 World Cup of Hockey champions.
DID YOU KNOW
After being overlooked in the WHL draft, Weber eventually went into the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame with Tri-Cities goalie and former Canadiens teammate Carey Price.
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