OILERS HOF: Worth his Weight in gold

EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers rolled into Madison Square Garden for a regular-season road meeting against the New York Rangers on March 17, 1993.

The Blue & Orange left Broadway with the two points after winning 4-3 in overtime off Craig MacTavish’s winner 33 seconds into the extra period, but Doug Weight’s recollections of the game are a bit cloudier after he woke up that morning a Ranger before finding himself in the Oilers locker room later that afternoon.

The 22-year-old was acquired by the Oilers for Esa Tikkanen in a pre-game trade where both players then had to swap locker rooms and jerseys before taking to the ice, which led to a bemused discovery by his wife Allison upon her arrival at the venue later that night.

Cell phones weren't advanced enough to be in everyone's pockets at that time.

“We were in New York. He got traded at lunchtime,” teammate Kelly Buchberger recalled. “So he switched, and the story is that Allison – his girlfriend and now wife – came to the game and there were no phones then. She's at the plexiglass in the Rangers end and she's looking for Dougie and he's not there, but she knocks on the glass and he's wearing an Oilers jersey.”

As a player who was drafted by the Blueshirts, it was an eye-opening experience for Weight to have to quickly adjust to his new team after envisioning himself as a Ranger for the rest of his career.

But as for what followed, Weight and all of Oil Country wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

“I was hurt, scared and didn't know what to expect,” he said. “I didn't know a lot of people on the team at all, and I changed rooms and played. That was another time that I didn't really feel myself. I think we won in overtime. Mac-T scored and we beat the Rangers, and I have no recollection of the game. All of a sudden you're on a plane going to a different city, and it was scary.”

“But two weeks after I got here, I was like, ‘what a great group of guys we have’,” Weight said.

“You realize how special it was, and it didn't take me long.”

What the Oilers didn’t know then is that they were acquiring a player who'd lead their franchise in almost every facet for the next eight-and-a-half seasons, including five straight trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and memorable first-round series victories over the Dallas Stars (’96-97) and Colorado Avalanche (’97-’98) during a period of transition for the club.

From his first day in Copper & Blue, Weight was able to embrace the workmanlike approach in the Edmonton locker room, while utilizing his incredible offensive acumen, which helped contribute to those famous series wins over Dallas and Colorado when the Oilers were heavily considered the underdogs.

“It's ingrained in us that we're going to have fun, we're going to enjoy being Oilers, but when you're out the rink, you're going to work,” he said.

For Weight, they were two of the most rewarding victories he felt in his career – even with his lone Stanley Cup championship in 2005-06 with the Carolina Hurricanes that unfortunately came against the Edmonton Oilers.

“Our goal was to win… everybody was buying in. Everybody raised their level and we did not care if were 40 points behind them or were playing $40 million cheaper, but that was a huge part of the motivation and I think the pride we had in playing for each other. There's just no feeling like it."

To this day, the atmosphere at Rexall Place remains the best he’s ever played in.

“I think the craze of hockey in this city, but the volume it came with and the way the whole city felt during those times, there's nothing like going to the rink,” he said.

“I think it's the credit of management and this team structure and the culture that they developed with the winning. We had that ingrained in us and it was a challenge for us to continue it.”

The Michigan product evolved into the next superstar for the Oilers after their golden dynasty of the 1980’s and would go on to lead the club in scoring for seven of his eight full seasons with Edmonton – including a 104-point campaign during the 95-96 NHL season that stood up as Edmonton’s last century for points before Connor McDavid reached the mark 21 years later.

Weight was instrumental in both offence and leadership, becoming an assistant captain for the Oilers in his second season before serving as the 10^th captain in franchise history from 1999-01.

As an American-born player who represented his nation for 49 games at the international level in the Olympics, World Cup of Hockey and World Championships, Weight fully embraced the experience of playing above the 49th parallel in a hockey-crazed market like Edmonton while helping others like fellow countryman Bill Guerin adjust to the environment.

"It was a time where our relationship just grew and we became closer than ever," Guerin said. "These were some of the most fun years of not just of my career, but of my life, and a lot of it has to do with just being able to spend time with and play with Dougie.

"Nothing brought me more joy than to give Dougie open net tap-ins, watch him forecheck, and watch him grind the game out [laughs]. But honestly, it was so much fun to come to the rink every single day. This is an amazing franchise if you're an Edmonton Oiler, it's something special. Those years were just fantastic and Dougie was a really big part of that. 

"There was nothing like being a hockey player in Canada, and when you're growing up, this is what you wanted because game day is important. There was nothing else going on in the world except hockey, and I just loved it. Dougie and I, being a couple, Americans, we just really embraced it and it was special."