Captain is dealing with thumb, foot, ankle and knee injuries, according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports.
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Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reported Wednesday night that the Canadiens might not protect captain Shea Weber for next Wednesday’s Seattle Kraken expansion draft.
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Lavoie added a bombshell that he’s hearing Weber could miss all of next season — if not more — following his latest medical evaluations.
Lavoie reported that Weber has thumb, foot, ankle and knee issues that he is dealing with. Weber has five more seasons remaining on his 14-year, US$110-million contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $7.857 million.
Weber missed the last eight games of the regular season with what was reported to be ligament damage in his left thumb. But the 35-year-old defenceman returned for the playoffs and played in all 22 games as the Canadiens advanced to the Stanley Cup final before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Weber posted 1-5-6 totals in the playoffs and had a plus/minus differential of plus-4 while averaging 25:13 of ice time per game. His defence partner Ben Chiarot was the only Canadiens player to average more ice time, with 25:15.
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At the end of the Stanley Cup final, head coach Dominique Ducharme confirmed that Weber had been playing with a thumb injury. When asked again about Weber’s health status on Tuesday, Ducharme said the captain had more tests and doctor appointments scheduled before making a decision on what would be best for his future.
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Weber has played 16 seasons in the NHL, but this year marked his first trip to the Stanley Cup final. The Canadiens acquired him from the Nashville Predators on June 29, 2016 in exchange for P.K. Subban.
“He’s the leader of the team … he leads a group of men and those kind of individuals you don’t find them everywhere,” Chiarot said about Weber when the Canadiens players held their exit interviews last Friday. “It comes so naturally to him. That’s why he’s talked about as one of the best leaders in the league, and it’s well deserved. He’s a special guy.”
Teammate Jeff Petry called Weber “a great leader.”
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“He was a huge part of our team and we see it every day, what he does,” Petry said last Friday. “At the end of the season he gets hurt and it was killing him not to be able to practise with us, be out there with us. And then for him to come back and start the playoffs and knowing that he was playing hurt, and he literally every day lays it on the line. For being so close and I think you look at the reactions after the game, everybody going up to him. You guys don’t see it, but in the locker room it would have meant a lot not only for everyone to win for the guy next to him, but I think for him it would have been even more special because you see what he does every day and words can’t describe that.”
Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin must submit his list of protected players for the expansion draft by Saturday. He has the option of protecting seven forwards, three defencemen and one goalie or eight skaters (forwards or defencemen) and one goalie.
Three years ago, Weber had surgery to repair tendons in his left foot, followed by arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscal tear in his right knee. He missed the last 56 games of the 2017-18 season and the first 24 games of the 2018-19 season as a result of the surgeries.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMieWh0dHBzOi8vbW9udHJlYWxnYXpldHRlLmNvbS9zcG9ydHMvaG9ja2V5L25obC9ob2NrZXktaW5zaWRlLW91dC9jYW5hZGllbnMtc2hlYS13ZWJlci1jb3VsZC1taXNzLWFsbC1vZi1uZXh0LXNlYXNvbi1yZXBvcnTSAacBaHR0cHM6Ly9tb250cmVhbGdhemV0dGUuY29tL3Nwb3J0cy9ob2NrZXkvbmhsL2hvY2tleS1pbnNpZGUtb3V0L2NhbmFkaWVucy1zaGVhLXdlYmVyLWNvdWxkLW1pc3MtYWxsLW9mLW5leHQtc2Vhc29uLXJlcG9ydC93Y20vNTdkZTE1YjItNDJhNS00YjdkLWJiNGYtNTM2YTc3ZmJiY2EzL2FtcC8?oc=5
2021-07-15 01:01:55Z
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