Yannick Weber

Defenceman Yannick Weber has been assigned to the Hamilton Bulldogs without playing a game for the Canadiens after his latest recall.

The Canadiens have sent Yannick Weber back to Hamilton.

Weber, 21, had been recalled from the Bulldogs on October 4.

The 5’11’’, 193-lb defenceman played in three games. He was held pointless and recorded one shot on goal.
Weber played three NHL regular season games with the Canadiens in 2008-09, recording one assist (0-1-1). He added two points (1-1-2) in three NHL playoff games.

No announcement yet, but the move undoubtedly is a prelude to recalling veteran Dman and power-play specialist  Marc-André Bergeron from Hamilton.

The week-long rookie camp is underway at the Canadiens practice facility in Brossard.

Pat Hickey was in the scrum to hear the words of defence prospects Yannick Weber and P.K. Subban, either (or both) of whom might see duty with the Canadiens this season.

Max Pacioretty says in an RDS piece that he's found it hard to sleep for the past two weeks. The pressure is on MaxPac to have a great rookie camp and main camp, which begins Sept. 12.

More to come from the rookie camp in the days ahead.

It’s obvious that Andrei Markov holds these Montreal Canadiens together. He is the team’s best defenseman, he is the team’s leading scorer (64 points, tied with Alexei Kovalev), he is the team’s most proficient passer, and he is a Gandalf-like wizard in terms of hockey sense.
Mathieu Schneider’s injury hurts the powerplay.
Markov’s injury sinks the team.
While there is nobody to replace ol’ 79, Bob Gainey does have the pieces to cobble together a better defensive corps than the one he has fielded over the past two games. Continue reading "In Need of Some Magic" »

The Second Coming of a hard-shooting Swiss defenceman?

Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey announced today the signing of defenseman Yannick Weber to a three-year contract (2008-09 to 2010-11). As per club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Weber, who hails from the city of Morges, Switzerland, completed in 2007-08 his second season in the OHL with the Kitchener Rangers. Last season, the 19-year-old was the Rangers’ top defenseman with 55 points (20 goals and 35 assists) in 59 games, posting a plus-7 rating along with 79 penalty minutes. Throughout his junior career in the OHL, Weber recorded 96 points (33 goals, 63 assists), served 121 penalty minutes and posted a plus-12 rating in 110 games.

Last season, Weber was instrumental in helping the Rangers win the OHL championship, recording 17 points (4 goals and 13 assists) in as many playoff games before leading his team to the Memorial Cup final.

Voted to the OHL’s Second All-Star Team in 2007-08, Weber was selected Top Offensive Defenseman last season with the Kitchener Rangers and received CHL Player of the Week honors during the month of October after tallying eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in three games.

Weber also captained the Swiss National Team at the 2008 World Junior Championship presented in the Czech Republic. He registered six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in as many games and served 14 penalty minutes.

The 5’11’’ and 191-pound Weber was the Canadiens’ third-round selection, 73rd overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.