Former Canadiens captain and Hall of Famer Shea Weber is now a Chicago Blackhawk.
Four months after being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Weber was traded from the Utah Hockey Club to the Blackhawks ahead of Friday’s 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline.
Make that Weber’s contract was traded.
Weber, 39, hasn’t played since the Canadiens lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup final because of injuries. He won’ play again.
But Weber’s 14-year, US$110-million contract still has one more season left after this with a salary-cap hit of US$7.857 million. Weber is only earning US$1 million this season and again next season on the heavily front-loaded contract the Nashville Predators matched following an offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012. The contract included US$13-million signing bonuses in each of the first four seasons, with two years of US$8-million signing bonuses after that. Weber earned US$80 million in the first six seasons of the contract.
The Predators traded Weber to the Canadiens on June 29, 2016, in exchange for defenceman P.K. Subban.
The Canadiens traded Weber to the Vegas Golden Knights on June 16, 2022, in exchange for forward Evgeny Dadonov. Vegas then traded Weber to the Arizona Coyotes (who became the Utah Hockey Club this season) on Feb. 22, 2023.
The NHL salary cap next season will jump to US$95.5 million from US$88 million. The lower limit for the salary cap will also jump to US$70.6 million and Weber’s contract will help the Blackhawks reach that mark.
Utah traded Weber’s contract on Friday, along with the rights to defenceman Victor Soderstrom and forward Aku Raty, to the Blackhawks in exchange for a fifth-round pick at the 2026 NHL Draft.
“Hockey has given me so much to be grateful for,” Weber said in November when the Canadiens inducted him into the Ring of Honour at the Bell Centre along with the team’s other Hall of Famers. “I laid it all out … I did whatever it took, especially during that run (to the Stanley Cup final in 2021) because we were so close and it was getting to that point where you’re willing to literally not be able to walk to help the team.”
Weber played 1,038 regular-season games during his 16-year NHL career, posting 224-365-589 totals.
“I’m just proud that I was able to play for as long as I did,” Weber said at the Bell Centre in November. “I think they were talking about something the other day of how many guys have played 1,000 games and it’s not as many as you would think. I thought there was way more. So I’m proud to be able to say that I made it that long and the way I played, too. That’s probably what I’m most proud of.”