We’re now just a few days away from hearing who will form this year’s class of inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame. There are a few new candidates this year including former Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber, former Detroit Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk, former San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Pittsburgh Penguins Patrick Marleau, former Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Canadiens and Washington Capitals Ilya Kovalchuk, former Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks Ryan Miller, former Predators’ Pekka Rinne, former Blues, Boston Bruins, and Ducks David Backes, former long-time Minnesota Wild captain and Columbus Blue Jackets short-time player Mikko Koivu, former New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders Travis Zajac and finally, former Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Not all candidates deserve a look though and as per the HOF rules, only four male players can be inducted per induction class. As always there has been a lot of debating about candidates’ worthiness of induction and it is not easy to get a consensus. To get in, a player must receive 14 votes from the 18 committee members. Here is my opinion on whether Weber is worthy of induction.
Weber’s Statistics
Weber’s career spanned 16 NHL seasons, 11 in Nashville with the team that drafted him 49th overall at the 2003 Draft and five in Montreal. In a total of 1,038 games played, Weber put up 589 points including 224 goals. Throughout his career, he also had a plus-79 rating and 714 penalty minutes.
A power play specialist thanks to his rocket of a shot, Weber scored 106 goals in that situation and added 133 assists for a total of 239 points with the man advantage. He also had 35 game-winning goals.
On average, he spent over 24 minutes on the ice every night and had an 8.1% shooting percentage, although that statistic varied a lot over the years. He went as high as 11.8% and as low as 4% so this stat should be taken with a grain of salt.
The hulking defenseman also landed 2,212 hits over the course of his career and blocked 1,691 shots; he was never one to fear the physical side of the game. There’s a reason why Mike Babcock once described him as a “Man Mountain” (from ‘Mike Babcock singing praises of defenceman Shea Weber,’ The Star, Sept. 6, 2016).
“Physically, (Weber is a) man-mountain,” Babcock said of the Canadiens defenceman. “He’s as good a human being as I’ve ever been around. He doesn’t have to say much. He just has to look at you and you snap into shape. He cuts a big swath out there. He shoots it so hard, that no one wants to stand in his way.
“What I like about him best, when he walks in the dressing room, you know it’s business. He’s a cultured type of person. He makes your franchise better when he walks in the door.”
Numerically speaking, Weber has good totals, but there’s nothing overly impressive here. Of course, there’s more to a defenseman’s role than putting up points, but the modern-era defensemen inducted all appear to be more productive offensively. For instance, Mark Howe, who’s at the bottom of the ladder in points, still has a 0.80 points per game (P/G). As for Weber, he has 0.57 P/G, and Chris Pronger is at 0.60 P/G, but he has a lot more hardware trophies-wise.
Weber’s Lack of Trophies
While no one can deny that Weber was a good defender, he has not won a single trophy in the NHL. Pronger, who was mentioned in the previous paragraph, won the Stanley Cup and a Hart Trophy (the first blueliner to claim it since Bobby Orr). Furthermore, he’s a member of the Triple Gold Club. He’s got two Olympic gold medals and a gold medal at the World Championships. Meanwhile, Weber received votes for the Norris Trophy but never won it.
On the international scene, Weber has two Olympic gold medals and a gold and a silver medal from the World Championships. While this is pretty to have on your resume, those are truly team awards. Canada didn’t win those titles solely because of Weber. Sure he was there and took part in the team effort, but that alone cannot get him into the Hall of Fame in my humble opinion.
Personally, I do not think someone needs to have won a Stanley Cup to get in the HOF. It was fine when there were only six teams but, now with 32 teams chasing the ultimate goal, it doesn’t make sense. If it were the case, only players from the very best teams would win trophies. There’s already the Conn Smythe Trophy which can only be won by the players of the two teams that made it to the Final. I don’t think there’s a rule to that effect, it just always ends up like that.
Weber’s Character
There is absolutely no debating possible when it comes to Weber’s character, he’s a great leader and captain. For a rebuilding team full of kids, he can even serve as a great dad and help them grow up in many ways. I remember an anecdote I read in Pierre Gervais and Mathias Brunet’s book, Tales from the Dressing Room, which I don’t have with me, but someone quoted it on X:
As for his leadership, when the Canadiens made that Stanley Cup run in 2021, they weren’t doing it for their coach or anybody but their captain, who could see the end of his career coming, and for Carey Price who was also battling knee problems. When they lost against the Tampa Bay Lightning, many Canadiens players went to console Weber, as if they knew it was the end of the line for him.
Related: Shea Weber’s Best Moments with the Canadiens
Don’t get me wrong, I know Weber is a good player and leader, but the Hall of Fame should not be for good players, it should be for those who have truly marked the game. The fact he got to 1,000 games is great, but personally when I think of Weber what comes to mind first is the ridiculous offer sheet he received from the Philadelphia Flyers. Defenseman Raymond Bourque, who had the whole league pulling for him to win the Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, is a good example of the kind of defender I would like to see in the Hall of Fame. For me, Weber doesn’t make the cut, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Feel free to let me know why you think he should be voted in.
