Contract of ex-Canadien Shea Weber latest addition to desert graveyard

Bad NHL contracts are dying in Arizona.

Former Canadiens captain Shea Weber is the latest example. The Arizona Coyotes acquired the remainder of his contract from the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

The Golden Knights sent Arizona a fifth-round pick in this year’s NHL draft along with Weber’s contract in exchange for 26-year-old defenseman Dysin Mayo, who has since played just 82 games in the NHL with 4-8-12 aggregates was selected by the Coyotes in the fifth round (133rd overall) of the 2014 draft.

Weber has not played due to injuries since helping the Canadians advance to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021. He remains on long-term injury reserve and is unlikely to play again.

The 37-year-old defenseman has three more seasons on his 14-year, $110 million deal after that, with an annual salary cap of $7.857 million. But Weber, who makes $3 million this season, will only make $1 million each in the last three seasons of his much-earned contract, making him attractive to the Coyotes as they try to get close to the NHL -Minimum salary to stay capped at $61 million without actually spending that much money. The maximum salary cap is $82.5 million.

Weber’s contract was the result of an offer sheet he received from the Philadelphia Flyers in the summer of 2012 while he was a restricted free agent. The Nashville Predators decided to up the offer in order to keep Weber. The deal included $13 million in signing bonuses each of the first four seasons, followed by two years of $8 million in signing bonuses. Weber earned $80 million over the first six seasons on the contract.

Weber joins a list of injured players officially retiring as Coyotes after never playing a game for Arizona while counting against their salary cap for the team. This list includes Chris Pronger, Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, Dave Bolland and Bryan Little.

The Coyotes acquired Pronger from the Flyers in the summer of 2015 and took over the final two seasons of his seven-year, $34.5 million contract with an annual salary cap of $4.935 million. But Pronger only made $575,000 on his front-loaded deal in each of the two seasons he was a member of the Coyotes. Pronger played his last NHL game with the Flyers in the 2011-12 season.

The Coyotes acquired Datsyuk from the Detroit Red Wings in the summer of 2016, with one season remaining on his three-year, $22.5 million contract with a $7.5 million salary cap. Datsyuk was supposed to earn $5.5 million in the final season of his contract but instead went to the KHL and never played for the Coyotes.

The Coyotes acquired Hossa from the Chicago Blackhawks in the summer of 2018, with three seasons remaining on his 12-year, $63.3 million contract and a $5.275 million annual salary cap. But Hossa made just $1 million in each of the three seasons he was a member of the Coyotes without ever playing a game.

The Coyotes acquired Bolland from the Florida Panthers in the summer of 2016, with three seasons remaining on his five-year, $27.5 million contract with an annual salary cap of $5.5 million. In fact, Bolland earned $5.5 million in each of his three seasons as a member of the Coyotes without playing a game.

The Coyotes acquired Little from the Winnipeg Jets last March, with his six-year, $31.75 million contract. Little earns $4.75 million this season and $3.75 million next season.

The Coyotes have $18.648 million this season, along with Weber ($7.857 million), Little ($5.291 million) and Andrew Ladd ($5.5 million), who was acquired by the New York Islanders -Dollars in salaries on their long-term casualty reserve list in summer 2021.

It should also be noted that NHL teams typically have insurance with large, long-term contracts in case a player gets injured.

It now looks like Weber will retire as Coyote without having played a game at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena.