from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

"Without a doubt, it’s been a tough year for us, especially with some of our top guys going down," Predators captain Shea Weber told ESPN.com Wednesday. "We battled hard but in the end we obviously couldn’t pull it together and get in."

These have to be soul-searching moments for Weber, who last summer saw his star defense partner, Ryan Suter, leave for Minnesota, then almost exited himself after signing a $110 million, 14-year offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers only to see the Predators match.

As of Wednesday morning, Weber was 16th among NHL defensemen with 23 points (eight goals) while ranking sixth in ice time at 26 minute per game. It’s not a bad season at all, but under the specter of the contract he signed, likely not enough for some.

"Obviously, we didn’t get into the playoffs, that means it didn’t go well for anyone," Weber responded when asked to talk about his own performance. "You can say that guys did well personally all you want, but if you’re not in the playoffs, if you’re not playing for the Stanley Cup, then things didn’t go as well as they should have."

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