Two days after having their season come to an end in the Stanley Cup Final the Nashville Predators got to work assembling their roster for next season.
The team announced on Tuesday that it has signed veteran defenseman Yannick Weber to a one-year contract that will pay him $600,000 for the 2017-18 season.
The Predators added Weber one year ago and he ended up appearing in 73 regular season games for the team, scoring one goal and adding seven assists on the team’s third defense pairing. He also played in all 22 of the team’s playoff games on their way to the Stanley Cup Final but was used only sparingly, averaging just 11 minutes of ice-time per game. He recorded one assist in the playoffs.
Weber is almost certain to be exposed in the upcoming expansion draft as the Predators are likely to take the option to protect eight skaters due to the talent they have assembled on their blue line. You can be sure the team will protect blue liners P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis. Doing that instead of the seven forward, three defensemen option could leave a top forward -- such as James Neal, for example -- exposed for Vegas to take.
The 28-year-old Weber has appeared in 347 games in the NHL with the Predators, Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens, scoring 23 goals to go with 55 assists over parts of nine seasons.