Mike Weaver may not have been a Montreal Canadiens for very long, however he endeared himself to fans quite quickly with his strong work ethic on the ice and a willingness to engage with fans directly through social media. From his adventures of traveling in the off-season with a Max Pacioretty poster to local restaurant suggestions, fans were able to get a real feel of Weaver’s personality and a peak of what he is like off the ice. Social media has been able to act as a bridge between public figures and fans but there are those that struggle with balancing that fine line and have set firestorms for their inappropriate words which had less than 140 characters.
The NHL and NHLPA should ask Weaver to run a clinic for players so as to learn how to properly communicate with fans through social media since he is so adept at it. “Being in the spotlight there are certain topics that you stay away from” says Weaver. “If you look at the different sports, hockey is probably the most conservative. It’s all about the team first. With other sports like basketball and football it’s all about the individual player. There’s a lot more branding in football”. These thoughts somewhat echo those expressed by another former Canadiens, P.K. Subban who has compared basketball and hockey in various interviews:
Subban quote #1
"It's so different, though, between basketball and hockey. Basketball, you can have one or two [elite] players and that wins you a championship. In hockey, you need a whole team.”
Subban Quote #2
“The NHL doesn’t market individual players—they market teams,” he says. “The NFL markets players. NBA? Markets players.”
For Weaver, “The mentality of a hockey player is very is down to earth. A lot of people shy away from it (social media) because that is focusing on you and not the team. Everyone is so scare of getting traded or signing with a Canadian team because the pressure. You’re in the spotlight. Every practice, every single game, there are 30-40 people in the locker room afterwards asking why did you make that pass or why didn’t you. A lot of guys shy away from it, that it’s better to say nothing at all and be safe.” Weaver believes though that “There’s a happy medium to everything. What I did was that I had fun with it. I never knew what it was like to be in Canada and when I got there it was a bit of an eye opener. I think guys should do more of creating a brand. They are in the spotlight. Guys should let their personalities come out more. I find that it would really help the sport more. Personality is branding yourself. Not step out of the team but go ahead and get recognized.”
This past Summer Weaver published a very authentic essay online through
The Players Tribune in yet another way to speak directly to fans and young hockey players who dream of making it to the NHL. When asked about what attracts athletes to pen essays for the site, Weaver recounted how “It’s an unbiased opinion that’s written by us, everybody has a voice. for the public. In the newspaper, you can’t write this and you can’t write that. You have your editors. It loses it’s personal feeling of with it. With the Player’s Tribune you can go ahead and write about whatever you want.”. Regarding his actual piece, Weaver “really thought that it would be great, that I just wanted to go ahead and do my thank you letter and tell everybody that there’s so much pressure involved with sports and they’re all about being drafted. I just wanted to go ahead and tell people that you don’t have to be drafted to make it and a lot of parents kind of forget that.”.
Building off of the theme of making it to the NHL, we discussed Weaver’s Defense First hockey school that has ran camps in Toronto and Montreal. Weaver now lives back in Toronto full-time and so the school continues year round with various camps. He is also brought in by various teams and associations to give talks and work with their teams at practice throughout the year. What makes Weaver’s camp stand out compared to the countless others out there is his focus on the defensive side of the game and skills on as well as off the ice:
“My hockey school is a thinking camp that is not taught anywhere, the thinking part of the game. You got your power skating clinic, your stick handling clinic , your conditioning clinic but nobody teaches the thinking part of the game so that is what we focus on. I teach from the defensive side of things but it’s not just for defence. It’s for forwards, goalies and defensemen and so everybody is able to come. It gives me a voice to help these kids. With the hockey school I am really able to go ahead and connect with the kids and teach them stuff that they don’t even get taught. That’s one thing that I am very happy to have with my camp. I have topic discussion with my kids I talk about how hockey relates to real life, the pressures involved with hockey. Why can’t you make it to the NHL? The odds are making it are pretty slim but somebody has to. It’s evolved it and now I can go ahead me to help these kids develop, help these kids understand that education is probably the most important thing. Sure you can go ahead and make it to the NHL, that’s great. You could play one year, five years or 13 years like myself but at some point you have to back and get your education. A lot of kids don’t get it and so I tell them that. Coming from me and coming from their parents is something totally different. I really love that opportunity with them that I am able to go ahead and connect with them.”
For now, Weaver is focused on coaching his own son’s hockey team and expanding his school. He has also revamped his app My Drill Book to one called Coach Them that will allow for the potential to expand into other sports down the line. With Coach Them, “You’re basically able to draw your drills or use the preloaded drills and it is a very easy way to create your practice. You have it right on your phone (or other medium) right on the ice. It’s a neat and simple tool.”. You can find more information about it at
https://Coachthem.com and more information about Defense First at:
http://www.defensefirst.com
Regarding the current edition of the Canadiens and their 10-1-1 record, Weaver relayed how one attempts to stay even and not get too ahead of oneself:
“It really comes down to one shift at a time, that you have to play within that shift. If you have a mistake you have to move one. I really think that staying the course and not getting too high or too low is the way to do it. It’s all about moving on. You’re only as good as your last shift”.
When asked to comment on Weber and if the Canadiens need to find a partner for him or not, Weaver shared that:
“Weber is a leader. I thought that they acquired a really good person on and off the ice. A guy that is well respected and commands excellence. He’s a guy that has a heavy shot. What more could you want in a leader? I think that they (the Canadiens) have it set up perfect. Weber is not a guy that goes end to end. Beaulieu is more offensive defensemen, having Weber beside him that is more responsible is good. On the powerplay having him with Markov, he’s the best in the game at setting up people. When shots like his come at you, you kind of cringe a little bit.”
I would like to extend a big thank you to Mike Weaver for agreeing to this interview and being so generous with his time!
Cheers and follow along!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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