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The Blues' Doug Weight is enduring a season in which he will most likely miss the playoffs for
the first time in nine years.
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Pride, passion propel
Blues' Weight
By Larry Wigge | NHL.com columnist
Jan. 18, 2006
The sweat was pouring down his chin after a long and productive skate with a few friends. It was clear that Doug Weight was on the ice with a purpose in mind.
This didn't happen last week -- in the middle of the NHL's 2005-06 season. It was back in August and Weight and teammate Keith Tkachuk and a few others were not just putting finishing touches to their getting-back-into-shape plans for training camp. They were trying plays. Working on moves.
"The NHL has been off for a year," Weight told me. "We're professionals and we want to make sure the St. Louis Blues are ready. But it's also an Olympic year ... and this may be the last chance we have to play for our country."
It hasn't been easy for Doug Weight, going from such optimism back in August to the frustration of watching the Blues win only 10 times and have the worst record in the NHL in the first half of the 2005-06 season. While Weight has not missed the playoffs for the last eight seasons, it's even worse for Blues' fans, whose team holds the record in all of professional sports of having made the playoffs for 25 consecutive seasons.
And Weight takes that negative feeling very seriously.
"There's no other way to say it, but losing sucks," he said. "I don't care if you're in St. Louis, Columbus, Washington, wherever. Losing becomes contagious. And this has been especially hard for us because we didn't see it coming -- and no one is feeling sorry for us after all the success we've had in this city.
"But I'm not about to quit trying to put this team back on the right track, even if I see my name in a trade rumor every day from now until the end of the season."
Weight, who is making $5.7 million on the final year of a five-year contract he signed after the Blues acquired him from the Edmonton Oilers in July of 2001, has led the Blues in scoring through most of this season and had nearly a point-per-game (37 points in 41 games). He's playing 24 minutes a game most nights -- the most in his career -- but he can't make magic all by himself.
"I love the ice time," Weight said. "I want (Blues Coach) Mike Kitchen to tap me on the shoulder in all of the critical points of the game. I feel like I'm skating better at the end of games than I ever have. I feel like I have something to contribute. And I want to make something happen that could get this team on a roll. Then, who knows?"
What Weight does know is -- that in spite of all of the trade rumors that have had him going to Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver among the most persistent rumors -- he hasn't asked for a trade and Blues General Manager Larry Pleau hasn't come to him to ask him if he would consider waiving the no-trade clause he has in his contract. But that doesn't mean that a contending team like the ones mentioned won't be knocking at the Blues' door before the NHL's March 9 trade deadline.
"That's the farthest thing from my mind right now," Weight said in mid-January. "I'm going to remain loyal to the Blues and our fans."
Another thing Weight knows is that he will get a chance to take his mind off the problems in St. Louis in a few weeks, when he joins the United States Olympic Team in Turin, Italy, where every Olympian is a winner -- not just the ones that skate away with medals.
"The competition at Salt Lake City was so great that the moment it was over I was already thinking about how much I wanted to be a part of the next Games in 2006," Weight said without hesitation, when asked what Turin meant to him.
"I've been a fan of the Olympics since 1980, when I was 9," Weight continued. "I remember sliding the couch in front of the TV set with my father and watching Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig and the rest of the Americans upset the Russians and then win the gold medal against Finland at Lake Placid.
"We had this big bowl of popcorn while we were watching the games ... and a lot of it wound up on the floor as we were jumping and cheering after the victories. I think it's safe to say that I grew up wanting to feel the same elation that those players did."
So far, Weight's biggest victory wearing the U.S. jersey came at Montreal in 1996, when the Americans won the World Cup of Hockey. This will be his third Olympics, having played in Nagano, Japan, in 1998 and at Salt Lake in 2002.
It's clear that the gold-medal game in 2002 gave all Americans hope that another 1980-type of celebration is always possible.
Doug Weight comments on his commitment to success in
St. Louis:
"I'm not about to quit trying to put this team back on the right track, even if I see my name in a trade rumor every day from now until the end of the season."
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Maybe you'll remember that in the waning moments, with Canada clinging to a 3-2 lead, fans who were shelling out $700 -- or more -- for a seat at the E Center, were on their feet as the United States' last best chance to tie the score on a power play with 6:17 remaining was killed off by the Canadians. Then, Jarome Iginla put the game out of reach with 3:59 left and Canada went on to win, 5-2.
It was like a one-game grudge match between the U.S. and Canada, which has become the biggest rivalry in the NHL -- yes, bigger than Edmonton-Calgary, Rangers-Islanders, or even Montreal-Toronto.
The rivalry is evident in every dressing room in the NHL, every day of the season. Sometimes, it manifests itself in a morning-skate shootout pitting the Americans and Canadians. It often surfaces in card games on the planes. It's always there.
"It's a fun rivalry," said Weight. "But it's not just joking around to get under somebody's skin. It's definitely deep-rooted. It's not hate. There's a respect.
"I can't tell you how badly I want to beat them, anywhere, anytime. And it's not just because I'm proud of my country. It's because of the crap I'm going to have to take from my teammates -- and former teammates -- for the next four years."
For Weight, that has meant having to see -- and hear from -- former Blues like Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis and from former Oilers teammates like Ryan Smyth and Eric Brewer, now a Blues teammate, all of whom played for Canada in 2002. And others Weight has developed friendships with.
Even though many of the Americans who were on that 1996 World Cup of Hockey team that beat Canada in the finals are not on this Olympic Team, Weight put the competition, the bragging rights, the pride, into perspective.
"I remember when I was playing in Edmonton and going into schools to read to and talk to the kids. They would tell me how to fix the Oilers' power play -- and, you know something, they had some pretty good ideas," Weight said. "It just showed me how much Canadians care about their hockey. Heck, we used to laugh about how some of the Canadian players were going nuts because their World Junior Team was winning.
"But in recent years, I found myself calling USA Hockey for updates on our Junior Team as well. And the same thing goes on with the European players."
You can still feel the passion in Weight's voice, can't you? Even during a frustrating time for him in St. Louis.
Weight turns 35 on Jan. 21. He hasn't won a Stanley Cup. You are talking about 15 seasons since Weight played in his first NHL game for the New York Rangers in the 1991 playoffs. That's a lot of games, searching for the Holy Grail. Would he waive his no-trade clause to go to a contender if the situation was right?
"My first choice is to stay here and be a part of turning this thing around in St. Louis," Weight said. "But if the Blues come to me with the opportunity to go to a team that has a chance to win a Stanley Cup now, I'd be crazy not to consider it.
"I've heard a lot of the speculation and I'm very flattered that so many good teams seem to be interested. I've heard about Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver -- and when it gets down to the crunch, who knows? I can tell you this: I want to win. I want to get a shot at a Stanley Cup and at my age there may not be that many more chances."
Who knows? Showing the world how much he still has to offer while wearing that U.S. jersey, might just attract more suitors for Doug Weight ... and more lucrative trade offers for the rebuilding St. Louis Blues.
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