Another day, another NHLer off to Europe.
This time it’s Buffalo Sabres defenseman Mike Weber -- the 24-year-old has agreed to join Lorenskog of Norway’s GET-ligaen, the top flight of Norwegian hockey.
The move makes Weber the third locked-out NHLer to try his hand in Norway. Pittsburgh defenseman Deryk Engelland and Florida forward Jack Skille both made their moves in mid-October, joining Rosenborg IHK Elite.
A native of Pittsburgh, Weber had a tough 2011-12 campaign with the Sabres -- an influx of defensemen (Christian Ehrhoff, Robyn Regher, Alex Sulzer) saw his playing time decrease, and an upper-body injury cost him 12 games.
As such, Weber finished with relatively low numbers -- 1G4A5PTS in 51GP -- a far cry from his “breakout” campaign in 2010-11, when he posted 17 points in 58 games and finished tied for second on the team with a plus-13 rating.
Weber is now the seventh Sabre playing abroad, joining Ehrhoff and Sulzer (Germany), Tyler Myers and Tyler Ennis (Switzerland), Andrej Sekera (Slovakia) and Jhonas Enroth (Sweden).
