Montreal Canadiens Shea Weber has been in-and-out of the lineup due to a foot injury that has bothered him for most of the 2017-18 season. But on Monday, the Canadiens announced that Weber is being 'shut down' and has been sent home from Vancouver, where the team is currently in the midst of a season-long seven-game road trip.
Claude Julien confirms Shea Weber is being shut down for the moment.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 18, 2017
His foot injury is not improving and he is being sent home to Montreal to be reevaluated. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/8pIYDIIT61
The Canadiens later confirmed this is the same injury that caused Weber to miss a total of seven games in November, and that Weber's health has not healed since then.
"It had improved to the point that he was ready to return, but then it got worse and we had to send him back to Montreal," said head coach Clauden Julien. "We'll keep him off the ice until we figure out what's going on.
"It's a long season, and it's the type of injury that he couldn't continue playing with. We'll manage it properly over the next couple of days and weeks."
Weber missed the last six games of November, and has played 26 of the Canadiens 33 contests this season. He most recently appeared in the NHL100 Classic on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators in Landsdowne Park, logging a game-high 22:58. While Weber has dealt with and played through this injury this season, his ice time has not decreased, still at over 25-minutes per game, and up slightly from his average from 2016-17.