Report: Shea Weber unlikely to play in the NHL ever again

In case you missed the news yesterday, it was widely reported that the Montreal Canadiens would expose captain Shea Weber in the upcoming 2021 NHL Expansion Draft due to real concern about his playing future. Weber has reportedly suffered a foot/ankle injury that may prevent him from playing ever again.

From Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman yesterday: 

Over the years, Weber’s punishing style has taken pieces out of opponents, but also himself. He has enormous pain tolerance, and, as teammates have readily admitted, will play through things others simply can’t.

Unfortunately, we could be reaching the end of that situation. According to multiple sources — Weber, the Canadiens, the NHL and the NHLPA are doing their due diligence on the captain’s medical situation and future.

He’s been plagued with a left foot/ankle problem that has threatened his career. Weber missed two weeks with an injury there in February 2020 (true to form, he returned much sooner than expected). In March 2018, he had surgery to repair tendons in the area. There’s been a worry for some time this problem would become too much to handle.

Now Friedman's counterpart over at TSN Darren Dreger is echoing Friedman's report and says that Weber is "unlikely" to continue his NHL career.

Check it out:

Man... that's gotta feel rough. Weber just poured his guts out on the ice this post-season and you could see in the final moments of Game 5 that he was just absolutely torn up. He looked to be holding back tears while the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrated their back to back championships. You have to imagine that Weber knew in that moment that he'd never get the chance to win the Stanley Cup again. Regardless of how you feel about the Habs and their improbable run this post-season, you've got to feel for a warrior like Weber.

If this is indeed the end for the 35 year old native of Sicamous, BC he'll go down in history as one of the best defensemen of his generation. He has 224 goals and 589 points in 1038 career regular season games split between the Canadiens and the Nashville Predators. He has one of the hardest slap shots in NHL history and is a three time Norris Trophy candidate as the NHL's best defenceman.