The dominance of Shea Weber

After missing the playoffs and finishing in 22nd place last year, the Montreal Canadiens needed to see a significant improvement in their play if they wanted to get back into the playoffs. While a healthy Carey Price has helped, the stellar performance of Shea Weber has aided the Canadiens’ rise to the top of their division and the top of the NHL. Weber has been the Canadiens’ best defensemen so far and his tougher, hard-hitting style of play has given the Canadiens an edge in their play. However, his offensive contributions haven’t gone unnoticed either to the rest of the league and to his fantasy owners. Weber’s fantastic play, while helping the Canadiens, has provided a huge boost to the lucky owners that were able to draft him.

Ever since entering the league in the 2005 season, Weber has been one of the premier offensive defenseman. After scoring 10 points in 28 games in his rookie season, he tallied 40 points in 79 games in the following year and would consistently average around 50 points a season after that. Feared throughout the league because of his blistering slapshot, Weber was also a goal scorer, averaging around 20 goals a year. Two seasons ago in what would become his final year in Nashville, Weber recorded 20 goals and 53 points, good for the ninth-most points by a defenseman.

However, the Montreal Canadiens had a deal in the works to pluck Weber out of Nashville. Looking to trade P.K. Subban before his no-movement clause kicked in, Montreal traded the young defender for Shea Weber, seeking to add an elite defenseman who was a little more defensively sound but could still rack up points.

Since coming to Montreal at the start of the year, Weber has scored an astonishing 17 points in 21 games, with seven of his goals coming on the power play. But mere points don’t tell the whole story. Shea Weber has been dominating in fantasy hockey too since the start of the season.

Using the Fantasy Hockey Geek tool, we can get an idea of just how valuable Weber has been to all sorts of different fantasy leagues. First we’ll being using an average 12-team H2H Yahoo league measuring G, A, PPP, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, and SO with this season’s stats.
 

In standard Yahoo fantasy leagues, Weber actually holds the most value amongst all skaters and is third out of all NHL players (with the two people in front of him being Devan Dubnyk and Tuukka Rask). Despite only being drafted on average 57^th overall, Weber has contributed the most fantasy value, more than big names like Alex Ovechkin, Tyler Seguin, and Brent Burns. Besides his impressive point totals, what makes Weber the most productive player is his good shot totals, elite powerplay numbers and his amount of hits. With some of the most hits in the entire league, Weber covers every category very well and contributes in all different ways.

As another example, in one of the Yahoo fantasy leagues that I’m in with a few other writers, we count G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, and SO. In this league too, Weber is the number one ranked player.
 

As +17, Weber has the second highest plus-minus in the league, trailing only Michael Grabner. And while his penalty minutes aren’t great, they’re not bad and won’t hurt you if your league counts penalty minutes as a category.

While many criticized the Canadiens for trading Subban, the short-term benefits have been invaluable. Weber has been dynamite for them and he has quickly ascended to the top in fantasy hockey too. Consider yourself lucky if you were able to draft him before the season started as he’s been the most valuable fantasy player so far this year.

To identify more players with great value in your specific league settings, check out Fantasy Hockey Geek to generate custom rankings tailored for you. With the Season Toolkit, you can use our advanced tools to manage to the top and take down the title. Head to the Dobber Sports Shop and pick it up today!