Morning Skate Concussion for Weber

There was some genuine concern for Predators defenseman and captain Shea Weber on Monday night, as he had suffered an upper-body injury in the game day skate on Monday morning, missing out on Monday night's game against the Detroit Red Wings and the report came down on Tuesday morning that he did indeed suffer a concussion.

Immediately, this means that Weber will be out of the line-up for the remainder of Week Thirteen and he will be re-evaluated on a number of occasions during the week, I'm sure, then again, as per protocol on Sunday or Monday to see how quickly he can return to the line-up.

For Monday night's game, highly-touted prospect Ryan Ellis was called up to fill in for Weber and with this news of the concussion, he might have himself a regular spot for a week or more, a spot he can keep with some solid play with the big club.

Weber leaves the game as the number two scoring defenseman in the NHL, having 8 goals and 21 assists in 35 games, which is good for 2nd in pool points on the team to Pekka Rinne, tops among all the skaters on the team.  Without question, this will be one hell of a blow to the Predators as a whole, Rinne has a top end goaltender and the trickle down effect will be significant across the board.  This will be a huge step-up time for the entire team.

This is a massive hit to Ryan M.'s season.  Ryan was a basement dweller for the early part of the regular season, holding onto last place from Week Two through Week Five, but since has seen some amazing gains and with a great pick in the waiver draft, he has been able to make a big move up the standings.  After Monday night's action, Ryan sits in 14th place, only 8 points back of 13th and was on a mission to try and climb into the top 10, which isn't out of the question this season.  Ryan's blueline has been good this season, picking up 77 points, a pool-high 30.3% of his overall production, so the loss of Weber for a week or more will sting, considerably.

As of Tuesday morning, Ryan sits 20 points out of the top 10 in 14th spot, only 3 points up on 17th position.