Doug Weight is just a good example of an all-around good hockey player. He isn't absolutely phenomenal at one thing, but he is excellent at a lot: he's tough, quick, can score goals, rack up tons of assists, and can even play defense even though he is a forward (he actually is pretty good at patrolling the blue line during the power play). He actually could play defense full time if he so desired. Doug Weight is just the kind of guy every team needs with his multi-faceted play, nice-guy persona, and leadership abilities.
Stats
Doug Weight's position is center and is a left-handed shooter. At 5'11" he's certainly not one of the tallest players, but it's a respectable height. He was born on January 21, 1971 in Warren, Michigan. Through the 2005-2006 season Weight has racked up 239 goals, 646 assists (good for 885 points) and 809 penalty minutes in 982 NHL games played. As far as the playoffs are concerned, he has 23 goals, 48 assists (71 points) in 92 games played, and 90 is the number of penalty minutes he's racked up in the playoffs. His jersey number is 39. He is married to his wife Allison, and has two children: Ryan and Danny.
History/Highlights
Doug Weight started out with Bloomfield of the NAJHL and Lake Superior of the CCHA putting up respectable numbers in those venues. He was drafted in 1990 in the 2nd round, 34th overall, by the New York Rangers. In his sophomore season with Lake Superior State, on April 2, 1991, he was signed by the Rangers, practiced with them for 11 games, then appeared in one playoff game (Game 6 versus Washington on April 13). In the 1991-1992 season Weight would play 53 games for the Rangers (only missing some due to injury and reconditioning) where he registered 30 points. Eight of his 22 assists were on the power play, which would prophesize his future dominance while on the man-advantage. He scored his first NHL goal on October 3, 1991 at Boston.
In the 92-93 season Weight would be traded (for Esa Tikkanen) to the Edmonton Oilers, the team where he would spend eight prolific seasons. Weight would score his 100th career assist on December 12, 1993 at Philadelphia. Following that season, he played for Team USA at the World Championships in Germany. The next season he led the Oilers in scoring with 40 points in all 48 games of the lockout-shortened season. During the lockout, he played in eight games with Rosenheim of the German Elite League where he scored 2 goals and 3 assists.
On October 6, 1995 Doug Weight was named an Oilers assistant captain. That season he skated in his first-ever All Star appearance. His first career penalty shot on January 3, 1996 at Tampa Bay (he didn't score). In the 1996-1997 season he again was atop the Oilers roster with 82 points (21G, 61A). Weight posted a 10-game scoring streak, recording 14 points over the span (3G, 11A). The next season Weight led the Oilers once again with 70 points. This put him in the distinction, along with Wayne Gretzky, to be the only players to lead their teams in scoring for five seasons in a row. He led the entire NHL that season with a whopping 39 power play points. That season he would get another go at the penalty shot, this time successfully scoring on Mike Richter at home while playing the Rangers, his former team, on October 8, 1997.
The next season, 1998-99, even though he missed 34 games due to injury, he was voted the most popular player by Edmonton fans. In the 1999-2000 season Doug Weight was named the 10th captain in Oilers history on September 28. He once again led Edmonton in scoring with 72 points (21G, 51A) and continued his power play dominance with 25 points on the man advantage. And, big surprise, the next season he led the club in scoring (90 points!); he collected 50+ assists for the fifth time in his career and became the fifth player in Edmonton history to record 500 points on October 30th. He also made his third All Star appearance. And how was he rewarded with such a great season? Well, he was traded - to the St. Louis Blues - on July 1, 2001, as Edmonton could no longer afford him.
After being acquired along with Michel Riesen from Edmonton in exchange for Marty Reasoner, Jochen Hecht and Jan Horacek, Doug Weight was quickly warmly welcomed by St. Louis fans. On October 1 that year he was named an assistant captain, a move that surprised nobody. He ranked second on the team that season with a plus 20 rating overall, including a plus 17 rating on home ice. He continued to dazzle on the power play, scoring 34 (12G, 22A) of his 49 points that season on the man advantage. Weight won a silver medal, collecting three assists at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games representing the USA. The injury bug big him, though, and he missed 20 games due to injury. He did, however, play in all 10 post season contests the Blues played where they spanked the Blackhawks and were spanked by the Red Wings.
The next season Weight got back on track, scoring 67 points (15G, 52A) for the Blues, and yes a bunch of them (36) were on the power play. But the major story of that season was actually in the post season. Even though the playoffs only lasted one round for the hapless Blues, as they choked to the Vancouver Canucks in seven games, Weight managed a whopping 5 goals and 8 assists (good for 13 points) in those seven contests, which led all NHLers, by a large margin, for the first round. It's a wonder that the Blues did not win that series.
In the 2003-2004 season, Weight was unusually quiet, which was unusual for an almost-injury free season. He still scored 65 points but most of those were assists. In the playoffs against San Jose, who eliminated the Blues, he scored two goals, which is good considering the team as a whole only scored nine times the entire series.
And as most NHL fans are now painfully remembering, there was no 2004-2005 season because of the lockout. After disagreeing all year about the CBA - and more importantly a salary cap - the players and Union finally reached a deal in July 2005. Right before the players were set to vote to ratify the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, Weight had this to say:
"When this is done, we're all going to be on the same side I hope. It's OK to have questions and it's OK to be heated about them. This is our livelihood after all.
"We had to stand up for what we thought we could get and that's the nature of the business. Now we have to move on."
Along with the rest of the team, Weight did not have a good season with the Blues when the NHL resumed in October, 2005. They ended up being the worst team in the league record-wise amidst a transition period where they were being sold by longtime owners Bill and Nancy Laurie (Wal-Mart heirs). This prompted the Blues to hold a mini fire sale in which Weight was traded midseason to the Carolina Hurricanes. With the 'Canes, Weight was more of a role player rather than a star expected to carry the team on his back. He helped them to their first Stanley Cup in the post season - with 3 goals and 13 assists - continuing his propencity to be a major player in the playoffs. (Unfortunately, though, he sat out games 5, 6, and 7 of the Finals because of a shoulder injury. He'd faced off against former Blues teammate Chris Pronger who was playing for their opponent, the Edmonton Oilers, who was dumped before the season had even begun.) But he'd said before he was traded he loved playing for the Blues and he said after winning the Cup that he had wanted to return - and he suggested to other players that they make a visit to St. Louis as well. He knew that with the team rebuilding it would be an exciting time for the Blues. The new owner - Dave Checketts - were more than happy to sign Weight and welcome him back to St. Louis and even signed Weight's former linemate Bill Guerin.
But Guerin was traded at the deadline that season to San Jose. That season saw the Blues come within range of the playoffs again, almost, under a new coach, Andy Murray. In 2006-2007, as the Blues excelled, Weight became quiet, not scoring any goals the first few months of the season. Suddenly in December of 2007 he scored 4 goals in three games. Then, suddenly again, he was traded for Andy McDonald to the Anaheim Ducks. Doug had a no-trade clause and wanted to refuse it, but was forced to take it when management told him that the future plans of the St. Louis Blues did not include him and that he would not be resigned when his contract was up at the end of the year.
Sources:
www.stlblues.com.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050721/ap_on_sp_ho_ne/hkn_nhl_lockout