Word of Shea Weber’s demise appears to be greatly exaggerated

Shea Weber had his last two seasons derailed by injuries, and he’s now 34 years old. But word of his demise seems to have been greatly exaggerated.

After being acquired from the Nashville Predators in a big swap of defenseman in June of 2016, with P.K. Subban going the other way, Shea Weber posted a good first season with the Montreal Canadiens (42 points, +20 plus-minus).

But the last two seasons have been derailed by injuries, with a torn tendon in his left foot limiting  him to 26 games in 2017-18 and a knee issue delaying his start to 2018-19. He was also not particularly productive last year, with 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists) in 58 games.

At 34-years-old now, Weber’s days as a Norris Trophy candidate seem to be over. In parallel with his peak, he routinely won the hardest shot competition at All-Star weekend and makes those that may consider getting in the way of his slap shot think twice.

With that cannon of a slap shot, it’s no surprise Weber has been a difference maker with the man-advantage. Of his 208 career regular season goals, 101 are power play goals. He got No. 100 and No. 101 Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings, with the first goal a thing of beauty.

https://twitter.com/PR_NHL/status/1193331360469049345?s=20

Weber cashed in his own rebound for his 100th career power play goal, picking the deflection out of the air to blast it past Jonathan Quick. No. 101 wound up being pretty important, as the Canadiens beat the Kings 3-2 that night.

Weber has a three-game point streak going, with points in five of the last six games as well. He is now tied for third on the Canadiens in scoring this season, with 13 points (five goals and eight assists) while playing all 17 games thus far.

When he was acquired from the Predators, many pointed to Weber’s age by the end of his huge contract as a double-whammy of bad for the Canadiens. He’s due $6 million with a $7.86 million cap hit for two more seasons after this one, so Montreal is not out of the woods yet in that regard.

So far this season though, a healthy Weber still seems to be a pretty good blue-liner and there’s at least some hope it’ll be sustainable.