Weber Providing Veteran Presence to Depleted Blue Line

After Yannick Weber signed a one-year contract with the Penguins on Wednesday, he packed up his car and left Nashville, where he had participated in Predators training camp a couple of weeks prior.
The plan was for him and his fiancé to drive to Pittsburgh, and then go from there to Boston in time for the Penguins' game against the Bruins on Thursday. But inclement weather changed their plans.

"Unfortunately, we got stuck in a snowstorm in Kentucky, of all places," Weber said with a laugh. "So we had to spend the night on the road."
After the roads cleared up, they finished what ultimately ended up being a 10-hour drive, listening to audiobooks and podcasts along the way.
"That's probably the best way these days to kill some time on the road," Weber said. "There wasn't really much to look at, it was snowy and not really pretty out."
After they made it to Pittsburgh, they drove from there to New York City ahead of Pittsburgh's matchup against the Rangers tonight.
"That was about six hours, but it was quite a breeze," Weber said. "Had to answer a lot of texts, had a lot of phone calls coming in that I had to answer. A lot of family members that wanted to get in touch with me the news that just came out. Glad it's behind me."

And now, the 32-year-old veteran will be providing some much-needed help to a Penguins defense corps that has been decimated by injuries, as Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson, Mike Matheson and Juuso Riikola are all currently sidelined. Weber will be the 11th defenseman to dress for the Penguins this season.
"Obviously it's great," Bryan Rust said. "Our blue line is a little depleted. We've had a lot of injuries. So to get a guy that's had a lot of experience and has been a really good player in this league for a long time, I think it's big for us. He's played in big games; he's gotten to a Stanley Cup Final. Having that experience on the back end right now is going to be huge."
Overall, Weber has played in parts of 12 seasons in the NHL split between Montreal, Vancouver and Nashville. Most recently, Weber spent the previous four seasons with the Predators from 2016-20, and that Stanley Cup Final appearance came in 2017 against the Penguins.
"I've had some bad memories facing them," Weber said with a laugh. "So it's nice to be on this side now. I've been in the league for a long time now, and Pittsburgh has always been a powerhouse. That's really hard to do as an organization for this long of a time. For me, it's a great opportunity to be here on a team that wants to win and has guys that have had success and want more of it and are hungry for more. So, I'm really happy to be a part of it."
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan coached Weber when he was an assistant with the Canucks during the 2014-15 season, which was the best season of his career. He set career highs with 11 goals and 21 points in 65 games.
"Webby and I have spent time together, so I have an established relationship with him," Sullivan said. "He's a good, solid player. He's got a big shot from the offensive blue line. he sees the ice pretty well. When I had him in Vancouver, he played on one of our power play units. He's a good, solid two-way defenseman. We're excited to have him join our group, especially under the circumstances we're in right now from an injury standpoint. He's a real good pro. He works extremely hard. We think he's going to fit into our group really well."
Weber, a right-handed shot, skated on the right side of the third pairing with Chad Ruhwedel during the Penguins morning skate. Sullivan said they will do their best to get Weber up to speed as quickly as possible while making sure not to overload him with information.
"We'll give him the basics and we'll build on that foundation as he goes," Sullivan said. "But Webby is a good pro. He's been around the league for quite some time now. He understands what his strengths are and how he can help teams regardless of who that team is."