Former Canadien Shea Weber apologizes for leaving Montreal so quietly

“Honestly, mentally I was not in a very good spot knowing that I was done playing,” Hall of Famer says. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone.”

Shea Weber was a man of very few words during his time with the Canadiens — especially with the media.

The former Canadiens captain also had no words for Montreal fans after it became clear his playing career was over because of injuries following the team’s 2021 Stanley Cup final loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Weber never showed up for player introductions at the Canadiens’ home opener the next season at the Bell Centre and basically disappeared. He never even held a farewell news conference or Zoom conference when he was traded — make that his contract was traded — to the Vegas Golden Knights two summers ago.

On Thursday, two days after it was announced he will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this year, Weber apologized to Montreal fans during a Zoom conference with the media.

“Honestly, mentally I was not in a very good spot knowing that I was done playing,” Weber said. “For a full year, I tried to come back, I tried to call my agent and tell him I was going to come back and he was like: ‘There’s no chance unless you don’t want to walk.’ So mentally I was in a very tough spot.

“I didn’t want to talk to anyone, I didn’t want to talk to my family, I didn’t want to talk to anybody,” Weber added. “I just wanted to hide out. I wanted to go in the bush, I wanted to be by myself. So, I guess, I’m a little bit sorry for that … not properly saying goodbye. It wasn’t intentional. I just was not ready yet. I was not in a good spot physically or mentally. I’d come and see the guys on the road and that kind of gave me the joy back like I was still there.”

Realizing his 16-year NHL career was over because of numerous injuries —  including his thumb, ankle, foot and knee — was hard for Weber, who missed the final eight games of the 2020-21 regular season before playing in all 22 playoff games, posting 1-5-6 totals while averaging 25:13 of ice time.

“I would rather just take my machine, go out in the bush and just be by myself,” said Weber, who will turn 39 on Aug. 14. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone, I didn’t want to deal with anyone. It was hard. You do something for your whole life, your goal is to make the NHL, your goal is to win the Stanley Cup and now, all of a sudden, it’s just stopped, cut off. And it’s like: Now what do you do? I was mentally … it was tough. It’s gotten better as it’s gone on, getting more involved in the kids’ stuff and giving back that way and finding more stuff for myself to do. But I guess, in a way, I’ll just apologize if that was the thing, but I was not very good.”

Weber said he was taking an unhealthy level of pain medication in order to keep playing in the playoffs three years ago.

“It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t just in the playoffs,” he said about playing through pain. “It was probably a year and a half before that. And I know the schedules weren’t perfect because of the condensed schedules because of the COVID and everything. I wanted to give it one more shot, but that whole year I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t walk. It was so painful. Competing in an NHL level compared to your everyday life is just … it’s another level. And then you get to the playoffs. I don’t want to get into how much medication I was taking because of the pain.”

Two weeks after the Canadiens’ playoff run ended and the drugs and adrenaline had worn off, Weber said he felt like he had been “run over by a bus multiple times.”

“It was tough, but at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about, too,” he added. “It’s what you play for and you’re willing to give anything to get there and, obviously, we just came up short.”

Weber said he’s still having problems with his knee and ankle. He played in a charity softball tournament last year and said he couldn’t walk for two weeks after. He can still golf and was playing Tuesday when the Hall of Fame called him.

Saturday will mark the eighth anniversary of Weber having his comfortable life in Nashville pulled out from under his feet when the Predators traded him to the Canadiens in exchange for P.K. Subban. Weber had spent 11 seasons with the Predators after they selected him in the second round (49th overall) of the 2003 NHL Draft. He was the team captain and had won the NHL’s Mark Messier Leadership Award a week before the trade.

“That day was a roller-coaster,” Weber said about the trade. “You’re in two different mindsets. At the start of it, you’re drafted by a team, you’re their captain, you’ve been there for 11 years and you’ve kind of been shipped off. You can’t believe it … disbelief. But then on the other side of that there’s excitement. The place (Montreal), you know the history, you know the aura of the team.

“Once that shock kind of settled, then there’s the excitement,” he added. “You start talking to guys on the team and then you get into the city, you see the city, you see how great it is. And then you adapt to it. The passion is unbelievable there. The fans are so into it. I always tell guys that have never played in a Canadian market, I’m like: ‘You guys have to play one year in Montreal just to see how much the fans care, how much they love you.’ It’s an unbelievable place to play.”

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