Weight feels the pressure in St. Louis

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2006

By Lucas Aykroyd

Doug Weight made his NHL debut on April 13, 1991 with the New York Rangers, but it took until June 19, 2006 for him to quench his thirst for Stanley Cup champagne with the Carolina Hurricanes. Yet in the off-season, the 35-year-old playmaking center signed a two-year, $7 million deal with his previous club, the St. Louis Blues, who had traded him to Carolina in January for draft picks and prospects.

He must occasionally question the wisdom of returning to St. Louis. Early in his fifth season with the club, Weight has suffered through some of the worst scoring droughts of his NHL career. Despite being reunited with winger Bill Guerin, his former teammate with Edmonton and the US national team, Weight had zero points in his first seven games and was blanked again between November 4 and 16. He finally scored his first goal of the season in a 4-2 loss to Vancouver on November 18.

“Certainly I haven’t gotten off to a great start statistically,” Weight said. “I’ve got to be a big producer on this team. I want to play a big role every game and I haven’t done that.”

But he’s more concerned about his team’s lack of success. St. Louis is already in danger of falling out of the Western Conference playoff race, despite adding new team president John Davidson and free agents like Guerin, Martin Rucinsky, and the injured Jay McKee.

“We’re consistently underachieving,” Weight said. “With the position we’re in talent-wise, we have to look in the mirror and understand what kind of team we have to be. You don’t get results in this league when you don’t play 60 minutes.”

Weight speaks from experience. The 180-cm, 90-kg veteran played his 1,000th career NHL game on November 16, becoming just the 210th player in league history to do so. He wants to make the most of the time he has left.

“When I signed here, I talked to John Davidson and everybody in this organization. I was told they’re going to build from within, and sometimes that takes a while. But with a lot of cap room and the guys they went out and got, I think we got a lot better in here. Still, it’s certainly disappointing the way we’ve started. It’s early, but we’ve dug ourselves quite a hole and we have to get out of it.”

Perhaps Weight can get some inspiration from recalling his stints in Germany during the two NHL lockouts. In 1995, he scored five points in eight games for Rosenheim. He had 15 points in seven regular season games for Frankfurt last year, and played a big role in the Lions’ 12-game playoff drive, adding 11 more points.

“The first time, it was just an opportunity that came up,” Weight said. “I was young and I wanted to play, and my agent got me a job there. The second time, when the lockout lasted so long, I thought I’d just stay home. But my agent said: ‘Why not go over and play 10 games in the regular season plus some playoff hockey?’ I decided to have some fun, stay in shape, and bring the family. Frankfurt was a great city. The coaching is very good, and the DEL is an underrated league with a lot of skill. I enjoyed playing with the German guys.”

Although Weight doesn’t plan to play a final season in Germany when his NHL days are over, he still hopes to contribute with the US national team if he gets the call. And that will likely depend on whether he can rediscover his old scoring touch with the St. Louis Blues.