TORONTO (AP) — Shea Weber and David Poile’s stories have been intertwined for more than two decades.
Poile drafted Weber when he was general manager of the Nashville Predators and eventually handed him the captaincy.
He also shipped the star defenseman out of town in a blockbuster trade.
Now both are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Weber joined Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick, Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell as the 2024 inductees in the player category on Monday night. Poile and Colin Campbell entered as builders.
“There’s so much to be grateful for when playing this game,” Weber said during his speech. “And it’s not just the big moments, grinding out a playoff win or taking home Olympic gold. It’s in the small — seemingly routine — moments that matter the most.”
The 39-year-old from Sicamous, British Columbia, whose career ended prematurely because of a long list of injuries, has been unable to play since helping drag Montreal to the 2021 Stanley Cup final.
Weber registered 589 points in 1,038 games with the Canadiens and Nashville Predators. He added 42 points in 97 playoff contests.
“My love for the game remains strong,” he said. “Even if my body didn’t hold up as long as I had hoped.”
Weber’s career trajectory changed in June 2016 when Poile traded him to the Canadiens for fellow blueliner P.K. Subban in a stunning one-for-one swap.
Weber thanked Montreal’s ownership, management and fans for giving him “a chance to play in the most passionate hockey city” he’s come across.
“I think I should be thanking David Poile for that, too,” Weber added with a wry smile as former teammates, including Carey Price, looked on from the audience.
Poile touched on his career wheeling and dealing across 41 years in the NHL as a GM, including the advice he received while working under Cliff Fletcher before moving into the big chair.
“He sat me down and bluntly told me, ‘David, if you are ever so lucky to become a general manager, you will know what it feels like to trade a player, uproot his family,’” Poile recalled. “Little could we have known at that time that I would go on to make the most trades ever in the history of the National Hockey League.
“But I always remembered Cliff’s message.”
The Toronto native started as an NHL executive with the Atlanta and Calgary Flames before becoming general manager of the Washington Capitals in 1982. Poile then joined the expansion Predators in 1997 to become GM, a position he held until retiring in 2023.
“I have poured my heart and soul into the game,” Poile said. “But hockey has given me and my family so much more.”
Datsyuk, 46, put up 918 points in 953 games with the Detroit Red Wings. He chipped in 113 points across 157 playoff contests that included Stanley Cup victories in 2002 and 2008.
The Russian center with majestic skill was also a four-time Lady Byng Trophy winner as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player and captured the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward on three occasions.
Datsyuk, who along with Weber was enshrined in his first year of eligibility, played five seasons in the KHL after leaving Detroit in 2016. He represented his country at five straight Olympics, capturing gold in 2018 and bronze in 2002.
“Being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame is a tremendous honor,” Datsyuk said. “(An) honor I couldn’t even dream of.”
Roenick, 54, banked 1,216 points in 1,363 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. The colorful, Boston-born winger added 122 points (53 goals, 69 assists) in 154 playoff contests.
Roenick, who won silver at the 2002 Olympics, had to wait 12 years to get his hall call.
“I love this game,” he said. “It’s been such a huge part of my life for most of my life.”
Wendell, 43, twice represented the United States at the Olympics, winning silver in 2002 and bronze in 2006. The forward from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, grabbed six medals at the world championships and was the first American captain to capture tournament gold.
“The greatest thing about hockey was not winning championships or medals,” Wendell said. “But the people that I got to meet along the way.”
Darwitz, 41, suited up for the U.S. at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Games, winning two silver medals and a bronze. The forward out of St. Paul, Minnesota, also competed at the worlds eight times, securing three gold medals.
“I wasn’t your everyday little girl and somehow my mom was on to me,” Darwitz said. “On my fifth birthday, my blonde French braids strolled into the hockey rink.”
Campbell’s hockey life has included time as a player, coach and, for the last 25 years, a senior executive vice president with the NHL. He helped spearhead the league’s centralized video review hub that’s now the standard across much of the North American sporting world.
The 71-year-old also won the Stanley Cup in 1994 as an associate coach with the New York Rangers.
“I’ve spoken to general managers over the years, board of governors,” Campbell said. “This is a first, and as I look out and see this group, it’s certainly inspiring and scary.”
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
