Canadiens deny controversial rumour on Shea Weber’s contract

This rumour needed to be ironed out and that’s exactly what Chantal Machabee of the Montreal Canadiens did on Tuesday.

It was expected that the Canadiens would look to move Shea Weber’s contract to a team that either needed long-term injured reserve room or needed to get to the cap floor and prefers not to spend much over the next few years.

As you know, the 36-year-old defenseman has not played this season, having had his playing career likely come to an end due to injury. Weber last played in the Stanley Cup Finals for the Habs against the Tampa Bay Lightning last summer before being placed on long-term injured reserve in 2021-22.

Weber has another four years left on his contract, carrying a $7.9M cap hit each season, but he is only owed $6M total over those four years. In other words, a team that acquires Weber would only have to pay him $6M, despite his contract having four years at $7.9M each year. This sounded like it could have been an intriguing option for a team looking to take on cap for their own benefit or to alleviate another team’s salary cap concerns.

A day after the trade deadline last week, Steve Dangle revealed that the Arizona Coyotes attempted to get Weber’s contract in a trade with the Canadiens, but were allegedly shut down by the league. Dangle explained on his podcast that the Coyotes look to get Weber’s deal but were told by the league that it would be bad PR for the NHL. Instead, the Coyotes turned to the Winnipeg Jets to acquire the contract of Bryan Little, along with the rights to unsigned NCAA player Nathan Smith in exchange for a fourth-round pick.

However, Machabee refuted the rumour saying the league never intervene in a trade between the Habs and Coyotes.

After the trade deadline, Canadiens GM Kent Hughes admitted in his presser that a deal for Weber’s contract in order to alleviate cap space came close to happening.

But that does not mean that the NHL shut it out and clearly Machabee made that clear on the air of 91.9 Sports on Tuesday.