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If Shea Weber is in the Hall of Fame, Carey Price deserves his place too

WINNIPEG, MB - JUNE 2: Goaltender Carey Price #31 and Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens keep an eye on the play during second period action against the Winnipeg Jets in Game One of the Second Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell MTS Place on June 2, 2021 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images)

Yesterday, the hockey world was taken by surprise when Shea Weber was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He obviously didn’t have a bad career, but he wasn’t THE best defenseman of his era either.

His candidacy is undoubtedly based on the sum of everything he did. Even if he doesn’t have a Stanley Cup, he often represented his country, played for a long time, was a feared defender…

And he had an aura. When you talked about Shea Weber, you knew you were talking about a great man.

When Marc Bergevin traded P.K. Subban to make room for Shea Weber on his team (and, more importantly, to get the Ontarian out of Montreal), he wanted to change the dynamic not only of his blue line, but also of his organization.

In the end, he got what he wanted.

But the question remains, even if Weber was excellent in Montreal and had a great career in Nashville: is he really worthy of a player who enters the Hall of Fame only three years into his career, in his first year of eligibility?

According to Jonathan Bernier, there was no such hurry. And he’s not the only one to think so.

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Obviously, when a player like him comes in, it creates waves. After all, if Jeremy Roenick and Pavel Datsyuk deserve their place, many people are wondering why Weber was passed over by the likes of Gary Suter and Alexander Moginly.

More importantly, it opens the door even wider to different names.

In Montreal, we wonder if Weber will be the only player of his era who played for the Canadiens to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. It’s also worth noting that for people of my generation, he’s the first player we’ve seen in Montreal to be inducted into the Hall…

By necessity, we can talk about P.K. Subban. But his career was a little too short, wasn’t it?

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And that brings us to Carey Price. The debate surrounding his legacy with the Habs (both in terms of his place in the Hall of Fame and seeing his jersey retired) has been going on for a long time already, and seeing Weber in the Hall gives a kind of comparable.

After all, if Weber is in because he’s considered one of the best players of his generation at his position, for having played in a final in 2021, for his achievements with Hockey Canada and for his reputation, Price deserves his place too.

Price has made the playoffs more often than Weber. He’s won individual honours that Weber hasn’t (in their respective positions, of course), and he’s played his entire career in a market like Montreal.

That’s not opinion, it’s fact. If Price had a greater career than Weber, he must be in the Hall of Fame on the heels of yesterday’s news. And that’s whether you think it’s fair or not. The comparable has been established.

If we fall into opinion, I still think Price, the winningest regular-season goaltender in Canadiens history, deserves his place in the sun one day. It doesn’t have to happen next year, though. And I didn’t think Weber was a lock for the Hall, let’s say.

We’ll see in due time, of course, but to see Weber in the Hall as early as 2024 changes things and gives an idea of how people who vote evaluate guys who’ve had a Weber or Price career.

Overtime

– Speak of the devil.

– Will he be the next Blue Jackets coach?

– Blue Jays win.

– Canadian victory, but…

– Read more.

– Really?