- Regarding the future of defenseman Shea Weber, Hughes indicated that his situation is complex and that it's "highly unlikely" that Weber will be "physically capable of playing again."
"I'm aware that that Shea's received a lot of criticism and [Jeff Gorton and I] were away in Germany for some of that and missed Guy [Lafleur]'s ceremony as well. Shea's situation is complex. There are a number of issues, some of which, given insurance issues, the League, whatever, we're really not at liberty to discuss.
Shea has been absent from the team. Shea's injured. Since I arrived in January, the understanding was that Shea was not playing this season no matter what -- that from an injury standpoint, he needed time to recover.
I think it's highly unlikely that Shea Weber is going to be physically capable of playing again. I'm not a doctor, but we've had these conversations about whether we would trade his contract. If we thought he was able to come back and play, we probably wouldn't have had those conversations. As far as Shea being there at the game on Friday, what we were really trying to do was, it was intended to be a surprise for Pierre Gervais, that his first captain and last captain were going to attend the game on Friday. The plan all along was for that to occur and then after Guy's passing, Shea extended the trip to be able to be at the the wake and funeral as well.
I don't know Shea really well, but everybody I've talked to around here and around the League say he's a heck of a guy, a heck of a leader, and does things in the shadows.
To me, he's probably getting unfairly criticized to some point, but I certainly respect everybody's right to an opinion."
- The plan remains to have a new captain next season, but there hasn't been any significant discussion about that yet. It's a process that will essentially pick up once Hughes has a better idea of the roster moving forward. At that point, the club will determine the right person for the job.
