When the Montreal Canadiens acquired Shea Weber this past summer (for P.K. Subban, in case you’ve forgotten), they picked up the two-time reigning hardest shot champion at the NHL All-Star Game.
At the past two events, Weber won with shots clocked at 108.5 and 108.1 miles per hour. The all-time record is held by Zdeno Chara, who hit 108.8 miles per hour in 2014.
That shot can be both a blessing and a curse. While it’s nice to have a defenceman who is once again on pace for 20 goals, Weber’s shot has also, at times, hurt the Canadiens. Literally.
There were two instances this week where Weber’s shot hurt his own player. On Tuesday, during a morning skate in Nashville ahead of their game against the Predators, Weber’s shot hit Max Pacioretty in the ankle and forced the captain to leave the ice early. That one didn’t turn out so bad, as Pacioretty played that night.
The very next day though, during a game in Dallas against the Stars, Weber fired a one-timer from the point on the power play that ran high and hit Gallagher in the hand. The result? Gallagher will miss at least eight weeks of action after having surgery. He missed time last season with a hand injury as well after blocking a Johnny Boychuk shot.
On Hockey Night in Canada’s Coach’s Corner Saturday night, Cherry said Weber needs to know his own strength and be a little more careful when he shoots, and how he shoots around teammates.
“I’m sure they’ve gone to Weber and said ‘look if I’m going to stand in front, you gotta keep your shots low,” Cherry said. “That was up high. This is like (Boris) Mironov used to blast them up high. You can’t stand in front, guys won’t want to stand in front.”
And as far as practice and warmups go, Cherry thinks Weber should holster his weapon.
“And Pacioretty in practice. He should always say to him, ‘with a cannon like that, you don’t slap it in practice and you don’t slap it in warmup.’ “
