NHL GM admits he tried “very hard” to acquire Shea Weber.

wow.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
NHL GM admits he tried “very hard” to acquire Shea Weber.
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Although things can often quickly devolve into the absurd when you are discussing potential "what if" scenarios, it remains one of my favorite things to do when it comes to professional sports. For example goaltender Carey Price went 5th overall in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft but how could things have turned out differently if Price had gone to either the Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild or the Carolina Hurricanes.

One NHL fan base was likely playing that game quite a bit over the week end due to comments made by highly respected NHL executive and a former member of the National Hockey League. The executive, former general manager Mike Gillis, made a monster reveal during an interview with TSN's 1040 in Vancouver. According to Gillis it sounds like the Canucks were extremely close to landing Shea Weber and although we will never truly know how that could have changed the direction of the Canadians franchise, it is fun to speculate about it. Needless to say fans in Vancouver were left in stunned belief wondering whether or not Weber would have really chosen to play on the East Coast of Canada.

We went after Shea Weber really hard. We really wanted to get him, thought he would bring something we were missing, after losing Ehrhoff to Buffalo. Particularly being a BC guy. When we visited him, he was really receptive, but then he got that massive offer

In spite of his recent slump in performance as well as his seemingly every mounting injury concerns, the reaction to the announcement from Gillis was very positive. Weber would almost assuredly become the organizations most valuable defensive defenseman following such a move but even if he had agreed to come to Vancouver it may not have mattered. 

Once the Flyers and general manager Paul Holmgren stepped into the fray to make Weber a mega contract offer, one that included some insanely front loaded bonus structures, it was likely over. Weber eagerly signed the offer sheet and as all of you know the rest is now history. That being said though would the Canucks have even been in a position to match such an offer? I would think not.

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