There’s a report out of Nashville that the Predators will make it official and put captain Shea Weber on injured reserve to free up a roster spot. We already knew that Nashville’s superstar defenseman Shea Weber would miss the Predators game against the Calgary Flames on New Year’s Day due to concussion-like symptoms—now we know that the organization is making preparations in case they have to deal with life without Weber for a longer stretch of time.
Weber hasn’t played since December 23rd against the Dallas Stars, during which he was the recipient of a Mark Fistric hit that likely caused his concussion. The Preds will have a few days off before they take the ice again on January 5th, coincidently against the Stars. Like any other concussion, there’s no telling whether Weber will show progress by Thursday. What we do know is that moving Weber to injured reserve would allow the organization to bring up another defenseman from the Milwaukee Admirals as a contingency plan.
In his absence, his partner in crime Ryan Suter has been averaging over 29 minutes per game to help pick up the slack. The Preds fell in their first game without their captain to the rival Red Wings, but have been able to rally and win their next two games against the Wild and Blues. They’ll have three games at home while Weber continues to try to recover and rejoin his team.
