The Wait for Weight is Over

The Islanders themselves announced the contract we have been waiting for has been signed. According to all parties involved the delay was no big deal. Garth Snow was busy and Doug Weight was in his own private Idaho. No, really. That's where he said he was; Northern Idaho. But there was no worry. The two men had a gentleman's agreement and now the contract details have been worked out.

As noted, this will be Doug Weight's 3rd season with the Islanders. His role has changed considerably since he first stepped foot on the Coliseum ice. As much as he has been a veteran mentor and John Tavares' land lord, Doug offers an array of intangibles both on and off the ice for the young stars and newly acquired players.

NHL.com's Brian Compton has an excellent Q&A with Doug Weight which offers some insight into the mind of the Islanders' Captain. I especially love this quote about his last season "In hindsight, I played horribly. I really couldn't perform. I had a lot of things on my mind that I never thought of on the ice before -- what position I was to not get hit."

While his new 1-year deal is for less than $900,000 for the season, it does leave room for bonuses. It was reported yesterday that the bonuses are based on "games played" and "playoffs". This seems to be standard language in player contracts who are willing to take far less than their previous contracts just to be able to play. Although part of me still wonders if there was concern over how well Weight has recovered from his surgery.

"I've had enough surgeries that I know there's scar tissue and I know there's things that are going to tweak it and there's going to be some soreness the day after." Well, Doug will be able to tell it's going to rain long before anyone else will.

Give the Q&A by Brian Compton a read today and you'll even get a glimpse at how the Captain feels about the other another Islander sidelined by surgery. I said he was harder to find than Sasquatch. Weight said he's more like Obama. That was interesting.

As one experienced NHLer with more than 25 years in the league prepares for another season, one announced his retirement. Chris Chelios, that man of steel, has finally hung up his skates and taken a front office job with Detroit. I haven't watched the video of the press conference yet, but I'm sure it was difficult for him.

With Chelios' retirement comes the retirement of my favorite joke about myself. (I'll probably miss being able to use it more than I'll actually miss watching Chelios skate.) When I started this hockey adventure of mine, I had a tag line that would get people laughing and break the ice for me. As a "mature" female trying to cover a young man's sport I knew there may be a few bumps here and there. If I felt my age or sex was getting in the way of being accepted somewhere, then I'd counter it with:

"Yep, I'm old enough to have given birth to most of the boys in this league but still young enough to sleep with some of them: Thank you Chris Chelios!"

So now you know why I really didn't want him to retire. I just lost my best line. Damn it.