Shea Weber set to miss even more time for Canadiens

It could be half a year before Shea Weber hits the ice again for the Montreal Canadiens.

This has been a painful year for the Montreal Canadiens. General Manager Marc Bergevin had a defenseman to replace P.K. Subban’s dynamic offense in Mikhail Sergachev. However, he traded him for Jonathan Drouin, who’s not even really a center.

Now, things are getting even worse. Defenseman Shea Weber has undergone a major knee surgery and will miss the next five to six months.

The Canadiens defenseman had the surgery to fix a meniscal tear in his right knee. This comes right as Weber was recovering from a foot injury that limited him to 26 games last season. It’s likely he won’t play again for the Canadiens until at least December.

Montreal has had a horrible offseason thus far, and this continues it. The Canadiens defensive core relies heavily on Weber. Without him, they lack a true top defenseman. When Weber has been on the ice, he’s been very good. The issue is he wasn’t on the ice much last season and he’ll miss at least the first two months next season.

This makes the Weber for P.K. Subban trade look even worse than it did when it happened. Since the trade, the Nashville Predators have gone to a Stanley Cup Final and won a President’s Trophy. Subban has been a huge part of their success. In fact, had the Preds won the Stanley Cup, P.K. probably would have been in the running for the Conn Smythe.

Most recently, Subban finished third in the Norris Trophy race. Weber has been good for Montreal, putting up 58 points in 104 games. But it’s hard to ignore Subban’s 59 points this season. Bergevin’s offseason thus far has been relatively quiet, aside from some Max Pacioretty trade rumors at the 2018 NHL Draft.

Next: Each NHL Team's Biggest 'What If' Moment

The Canadiens had a slight shot at being good in 2018-19. That hope relies on, among others, Weber. Now it’s up to Carey Price, Pacioretty, and Drouin to recover from down years.