Nothing about New York really HOOKED Shea Weber. Hah, get it? Hooked? ...I hate myself

I know you’re all desperate for even more Shea Weber news and, by gum, I give the people what they want. The prospect of Weber becoming a Flyer has pretty

much every non-Flyer fan in something of an apoplectic rage (okay, probably not, but we’re not happy about it) but it turns out that this story could have been very different (except totally the same with a different team involved). Check it:

#NYR Rangers were also on Shea Weber’s short list; d-man RFA visited NY recently, ESPN NY has learned. Story to come

— Katie Strang (@KatieStrangESPN) July 19, 2012

#NYR Weber liked NYR org — ownership, hockey ops, coaching — but prospect of living in Manhattan was main deterrent

— Katie Strang (@KatieStrangESPN) July 19, 2012

#NYR Acoording to agent, Weber a “small-town guy, [NY] is a huge city. [PHI] just seemed a better fit at this time in his career”

— Katie Strang (@KatieStrangESPN) July 19, 2012

So, yeah, that’s a new one. It’s fully Weber’s choice to play where he wants, this just seems like kind of a silly excuse. First of all, there’s no law that mandates you live in Manahttan if you move to New York City and second of all, while Philly’s nowhere near the size of New York, it’s not exactly a small town. In fact, it has a population of over 1.5 million people.

But, hey, I get it, New York can be a scary place. Maybe he saw the Avengers recently and is was like “I’m relatively sure the Chitauri are invading sooner or later, I don’t want to be there when that happens.” Or maybe he wants to run the Rocky steps every day. The point is, we don’t know, so lay off him.

And far be it from me to rag on anyone for not going to play with the Rangers. Although the alternative is the Flyers. Now I’m conflicted.