Shea Weber Talks About Playing In The Stanley Cup Final While Wrapped Like A Mummy

A new batch of names will be added to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, and one of the inductees — former Nashville Predators and Montreal Canadiens D-man — Shea Weber revealed what kind of condition he was in going into the 2021 Stanley Cup Final between his Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Spoiler Alert: it wasn't good.

Weber — a shutdown defender who was also known for having one of the hardest slapshots in league history — spoke to the media ahead of his induction, and that's when he discussed the Cup Final.

You may recall that in 2021, the NHL used a different division setup that saw all 7 of the league's Canadian teams in one division and that's how Montreal ended up playing Tampa Bay for the Stanley Cup when under normal circumstances both teams are in the Eastern Conference.

Anyway, like any Cup run, players get beat up, but Weber — Montreal's captain at the time — had a laundry list of issues that season.

According to Sportsnet's Eric Engels that included a torn meniscus, busted ankle, torn tendons in his thumb, and then in the semifinal series against the Vegas Golden Knights he tore his groin.

However, he still played.

How?

Tape. Lots of it.

"Just tape it all up," Weber said, according to Engels. "I was a mummy."

That series turned out to be Weber's final few games in the NHL, and unfortunately for him, his Canadiens were beaten soundly by the Tampa Bay Lightning who won the series 4-1 for their second straight Cup.

But what a warrior Shea Weber was. He was already pretty much a Hall of Fame shoo-in by that point in his 16-year NHL career, but if the more than 1,000 games and 589 points (234G, 365A) wasn't enough, I think gutting out a Stanley Cup Final while wrapped up like Boris Karloff should count for something.