Arbitrator awards Predators’ Weber $7.5M
Posted August 3, 2011 3:38 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nashville Predators defenceman Shea Weber has been awarded $7.5 million on a one-year contract, the largest arbitration award ever for an NHL player.
The Predators have 48 hours from the time the award is received to accept the contract or walk away from the deal. Should they accept the award, it would give Weber the highest average annual cap hit among defenceman in the NHL.
Weber and the Predators went in front of an arbitrator on Tuesday — the first hearing in the NHL this summer — with the player requesting upwards of $8 million and the team submitting a request of $4.75 million. Last season, Weber carried a cap hit of $4.5 million in what was the final year of a three-year contract.
The 25-year-old Weber finished with 16 goals and 32 assists in 82 games last season.
A finalist for the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenceman this season, Weber captained the Predators to the second round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks.
