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The Utah Hockey Club already has its first Hall of Famer before playing a single game in the NHL.
It was announced Tuesday that Shea Weber will be among this year’s inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
The former Canadiens captain hasn’t played a game since the 2021 Stanley Cup final, which the Canadiens lost in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. After missing the last eight regular-season games that year, Weber played in all 22 playoff games, posting 1-5-6 totals while averaging 25:13 of ice time. He did it while playing through a painful injury to his left thumb, along with lingering ankle, foot and knee issues.
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Weber has been on long-term injured reserve since then, but still has two more seasons remaining on the 14-year, US$110-million contract he signed with the Nashville Predators, who decided to match an offer sheet the defenceman received as a restricted free agent from the Philadelphia Flyers in the summer of 2012.
Canadiens GM Kent Hughes traded Weber and his contract to the Vegas Golden Knights on June 16, 2022, in exchange for forward Evgenii Dadonov. The Golden Knights then traded Weber and his contract to the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 22, 2023, along with a fifth-round draft pick in 2023, in exchange for defenceman Dysin Mayo. Two months ago, the Coyotes were relocated to Salt Lake City and renamed the Utah Hockey Club (for now).
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While the final two years of Weber’s contract have a salary-cap hit of US$7.857 million, he will only be paid US$1 million by the Utah Hockey Club in each of those years. His contract was heavily front-loaded, with Weber earning US$14 million in each of the first four seasons, including a US$13-million signing bonus in each of those years, according to CapFriendly.com.
“It’s still in shock,” Weber told reporters during a Zoom conference Thursday afternoon from his home in British Columbia about being inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. “I’m still getting messages and I can’t believe it. I had no idea anything was coming. I got the call in the middle of a golf game and it was just disbelief. I kind of just dropped down on a knee and couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. It’s crazy. Just looking at the players before me and the guys that I’m going in with and girls that I’m going in with it’s disbelief and definitely a huge honour.”
Weber will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony in November, along with former NHLers Pavel Datsyuk and Jeremy Roenick, and female players Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl. Colin Campbell and David Poile will be inducted as builders.
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“If I’m being honest, it was extremely hard my first year,” Weber said about his playing career coming to an end. “Mentally I think was the biggest challenge. I felt like I could still play, but physically my body just wouldn’t let me. It wasn’t possible to go anymore. I think that first year was really difficult. I tried to help a little bit with Montreal with the scouting side of it. When I was traded to Vegas, I helped out a little bit with their development and their defence.
“Last year, I kind of just took off,” added Weber, who will turn 39 on Aug. 14. “After three teams in three years, I started to feel like a suitcase and wasn’t even playing. But I think I’m going to try and get back into it and be with Utah. I’m going to go down there next week for development camp and kind of see if there’s a spot or something that might be a fit to stay in the game.”
Former Canadiens goalie Carey Price could join Weber in the Hall of Fame next year when he becomes eligible. Price played five games in the 2021-22 season, but couldn’t continue after that because of a knee injury and remains on long-term injured reserve. Price, who will turn 37 on Aug. 16, also has two more seasons remaining on his eight-year, US$84-million contract with a salary-cap hit of US$10.5 million. Price will earn US$7.5 million in each of those two seasons, including a signing bonus of US$5.5 million each year, according to CapFriendly.com.
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“Without a doubt in my mind he’s going in,” Weber said about Price. “I don’t know when that time is … I don’t know how it all works. He’s a guy that for me he’s for sure going in there. No question about it.”
Weber said he went through a “vicious cycle” of pain medication in order to keep playing during the 2021 playoffs. He played 1,038 regular-season games during his 16 years in the NHL, posting 224-365-589 totals. He was a three-time finalist for the Norris Trophy and won the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2016 with the Predators before being traded to the Canadiens that summer in exchange for P.K. Subban. Weber never won the Stanley Cup, but the Sicamous, B.C., native won two Olympic gold medals and a world championship with Team Canada.
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