Contract: Restricted Free Agent this offseason, Weber’s qualifying offer starts at $1 million.
Report Card from 2012: 3.5
Introduction: In Mike Weber’s five year career with the Buffalo Sabres, he has always been the sixth or seventh defenseman on the depth chart. He is not an offensive defenseman by any stretch of the imagination. His career high goal scoring rate is 4 goals in 58 games during the 2010-11 season. What he has done though is become a relatively solid defensive defenseman that has seen his average time on ice increase over the past five years. In 42 games this season, Weber averaged 18:22 on the ice, a slight decrease 13 seconds/game from the 2011-12 season.
The main question with Weber is whether he can make the lineup year in and year out. Currently, if the Sabres keep Mike Weber this season he is expected to make at least $1 million in NHL salary. That would make him the fourth highest paid defenseman with only Mark Pysyk and Chad Ruhwedel currently listed with a lower salary. But, there are younger players that will try and make a case to make the big club in Braydon McNabb and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc. This doesn’t include any possible other defensive prospects that the Sabres may acquire in the offseason.
Key Stat: Mike Weber had the worst on-ice Corsi among all Sabres defenseman in the 2012-13 season at -20.5. Only Steve Ott and Luke Adam had a lower Corsi.
Thumbs Up: Mike Weber has a physical element to his game and he’s not afraid to use it. Weber was second on the team with 122 hits. He was by far the biggest hitting defenseman with Robyn Regehr being second on the list at 65.
Thumbs Down: Even with that physical element of Weber’s game, it is time for the Sabres to take a hard look to see if Weber is worth using a qualifying offer on. The team’s defensive depth has waned over the past couple of years so there isn’t a lot of challengers for his spot, but the team’s roster could go through a severe shift in the week heading into the NHL Draft.
Voting: Using the good old grade school system of A, B, C, D, F, with A representing a great season, C an average season, and F a very poor season, grade Mike Weber on his performance this year according to the expectations you had for him.
Grade Mike Weber’s 2013 season.
| A | 29 |
| B | 107 |
| C | 53 |
| D | 11 |
| F | 3 |