How Former Canadiens Called It A Career

In 2021 when the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup final only to lose hockey’s ultimate prize in five games, Shea Weber took his last strides in the NHL. When the final buzzer went off on the Tampa Bay’s 1-0 win in Game 5, every one of the captain’s teammate went to pay their respect to him, they might not have known it was going to be the last game of his career, but they knew how affected by injuries he was.

In Toronto this weekend, Weber has been asked plenty of questions and has revealed some interesting information, including what was ailing him during the Stanley Cup final. On Friday afternoon, Eric Engels posted the list on his X account.

In that Cup run, the rugged blueliner was playing with a torn meniscus, a busted ankle, torn thumb tendons, and, for good measure, tore his groin in the semi-final against the Vegas Golden Knights. That’s quite a bit of pain to deal with even when not playing hockey, it’s hard to imagine just how Weber managed to play through all that.

Related: Canadiens to Honour Shea Weber on November 16

The fact is though, for hockey players, winning the Stanley Cup is the ultimate dream and as the years go by, you realize that it’s incredibly hard to even get to a Cup final, let alone win it. It’s understandable then not to want to sit any of it out, but once the dream crumbles like a house of cards, the pain must hit you like a ton of bricks.

Shortly after that crushing loss, the Seattle Kraken expansion draft had to be held and as then GM Marc Bergevin explained his protection list, he shocked Canadiens fans by saying his captain might never play again because of multiple injuries.

Related: Former Canadiens Captain Induction Podcast

Fans had no idea back then, but that magical run to the final would, for all intents and purposes, end three careers; Weber’s, Carey Price and Paul Byron. While the former captain never skated in another NHL game, the franchise goaltender only played five more games before admitting his knees were beyond repair and the resident speedster hung on for 27 more games, but he just couldn’t cope with the pain from his hip injuries.

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