Less than a month after trading Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Canadiens have found their next captain.
On Monday morning, the team Shea Weber as the 30th captain in franchise history. Forwards Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron will serve as alternates in 2018-19. Weber, who was acquired from the Nashville Predators for P.K. Subban in the summer of 2016, has been a captain before. He also served as captain of the Preds from 2010 to 2016.
Weber won’t officially be able to wear the “C” until later on in the year. The 33-year-old is expected to be out until around Christmas because of off-season knee surgery. Of course, Weber also missed the last four months of last season because of a foot ailment.
Interestingly enough, the team also announced that management decided that Weber was the right choice. As you may remember, the organization allowed the players to vote on the captaincy back in 2015 when Pacioretty was eventually chosen.
Weber appears to be a logical choice because he’s one of the better players on the team when healthy and he has plenty of experience both internationally and in the NHL. His injury history has to be a bit of a concern because you don’t want your captain missing long stretches of time, but that’s a bridge the Canadiens may or not have to cross in the future.
Fun fact: Weber is the first defenseman to serve as captain of the Habs since Chris Chelios did so in 1989-90.
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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.