Weight Wins First Game as NHL Head Coach

Doug Weight (Lake Superior State) has his first win as an interim NHL head coach.

Weight, who was elevated to the top coaching position with the New York Islanders on Tuesday after predecessor Jack Capuano (Maine) was let go by the club, picked up his first victory in charge of an NHL bench on Thursday night in Brooklyn as the Islanders defeated the Dallas Stars, 3-0.

Born in Detroit, Weight, 46, played two seasons at LSSU, tallying 50 goals and 94 assists for 134 points in 88 career games with the Lakers. He also earned All-CCHA and All-America accolades, and later endowed a hockey scholarship at the university. 

Drafted in the second round (34th overall) of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, following his freshman campaign at LSSU, he turned pro the following year with the Rangers, appearing in one 1991 Stanley Cup Playoff game after competing his sophomore season with the Lakers. 

By the time he was done 20 years later, in 2010-11, Weight had collected 278-755—1,033 points in 1,238 NHL regular-season outings with the Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks and the Islanders, according to hockeydb.com. A four-time NHL All-Star, he also recorded 23-49—72 points in 97 Stanley Cup Playoff contests, and won the Cup with Carolina in 2006.

Weight also won the inaugural World Cup with the U.S. in 1996, and six years later helped the Americans to the silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. He also appeared in the 1998 and 2006 Olympic Games, and was inducted into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.

A former Islander team captain, Weight was in his third season as the franchise's Senior Advisor to the General Manager, and sixth as an assistant coach when he succeeded Capuano, who had served as Islander head coach since November 2010 and won 227 of 483 NHL games in his tenure.