For the Sharks, a Talent That Hasn’t Translated

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — For a franchise that has endured more than its share of playoff disappointments, the end to this season for the San Jose Sharks might rank right at the top.

Vancouver Canucks' Ryan Kesler, left, celebrates his game-tying goal with less than 14 seconds left in the third period of Game 5.

If it happens on ice and it involves hitting and scoring, The Times's Slap Shot blog is on it.

A game-tying goal after a questionable call in the closing seconds of regulation, several prime scoring chances in overtime turned aside by a goalie at the top of his game, and a fluky bounce that led to a season-ending goal in double overtime.

It all added up to a second straight season that ended a step short of the team’s first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals as San Jose lost, 3-2, to the Vancouver Canucks in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

Now the Sharks head into another off-season wondering what it will take to get this supremely talented team past the conference finals hurdle.

“You could ask 27 teams, and I think they’re a little jealous at the success we’ve had,” the captain Joe Thornton said. “For whatever reason, you know, you get down to the top two teams in your conference, and they’re pretty good teams. To get here is an accomplishment, but next year, we’ve got to beat it.”

The Sharks have had the second-best regular-season record, behind Detroit, over the last seven seasons, but they have not been able to translate that into a championship. San Jose was swept by eventual champion Chicago last year and then lost in five games this season to the Canucks.

“I think a successful season is winning a Cup, and anything less is not good enough,” forward Patrick Marleau said. “It’s just frustrating to see it slip away like that.”

While the Sharks blew a third-period lead in Game 1, lost their composure late in Game 2 and were done in by five blown power-play chances and a record three 5-on-3 goals allowed in Game 4, the last game may haunt them most.

Kevin Bieksa’s game-winner came after Alex Edler’s dump in caromed awkwardly off the glass on the sideboards and out to the defenseman just inside the blue line. Bieksa’s quick shot beat Antti Niemi inside the right post before he — and almost everyone else on the ice — could find the puck. That was only possible because of an apparent blown call late in regulation that allowed the Canucks to tie the game. With the Sharks clinging to a 2-1 lead in the final minute, Dan Boyle was called for icing on a clear from behind his net. But replays showed the puck hit Vancouver forward Daniel Sedin, which should have negated the call.

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In Game 7, the Bruins Are Counting on Thomas to Be Extraordinary

More evidence in support of that statement came in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-4 victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, when Thomas stopped just 21 shots. In fairness to him, three Lightning goals came on power plays, but still, he was ordinary at best.

He will have to be better than ordinary on Friday night in Game 7 at TD Garden. Thomas’s Lightning counterpart, Dwayne Roloson, has an impeccable career record in elimination games — he has been the winning goalie in all seven he has played.

Boston Coach Claude Julien would not say it, but the Bruins are entirely dependent on Thomas’s often amazing goalkeeping. For Thomas, however, that is proving harder to conjure against Tampa Bay.

“We learned again tonight that they’re not giving us anything,” Thomas said after Game 6. “It’s a best-of-seven series for a reason. If it was a best-of-five series, we would have won this already.”

This Game 7 comes exactly one month after both the Bruins (against Montreal) and the Lightning (against Pittsburgh) prevailed in first-round Game 7 victories.

Thomas has been stellar at times in this series, as he was in a 2-0 shutout in Game 3 and in the Bruins’ 3-1 win in Game 5, when he leapt back to make a diving, full-stretch save that robbed Steve Downie in the third period and preserved the victory.

Performances like those are a continuation of Thomas’s excellence in the regular season, when he set an N.H.L. record with a .938 save percentage.

How important is Thomas to the Bruins? Had he instead registered the same merely good .918 save percentage as his backup, Tuukka Rask, Thomas would have given up an additional 36 goals over the course of the season. That could have cost the Bruins about a dozen points in the standings — enough to drop them from third to ninth place, out of the playoffs.

In the series against Tampa Bay, however, Thomas has managed only a .905 percentage.

“Timmy has been really good at bouncing back and playing solid for us,” Julien said. “Our team has been really resilient that way.”

The Lightning’s roster of sharpshooting star forwards (Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos) and overachieving role players (Downie, Sean Bergenheim, Teddy Purcell) has struck for five goals in four games against the Bruins.

Purcell, surprisingly, leads the Lightning in this series with five goals. He had 28 in his five-year N.H.L. career coming into the postseason.

Bergenheim, at one point Tampa Bay’s leading playoff scorer, has missed the last two games with an injury. His status is unknown for Game 7.

At the other end of the ice, Roloson has been even more spotty after being brilliant in the first two rounds. Removed from two games in this series and relegated to the bench in favor of the backup Mike Smith in another, Roloson has managed a dismal .851 save percentage against Boston.

Yet the only other goalie in N.H.L. history to roll up a 7-0 record in his first seven elimination games was Chico Resch of the Islanders, in 1975.

Roloson’s first three elimination-game wins came with Edmonton in 2006, but the next three came this year, when Tampa Bay rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to beat Pittsburgh, followed by victory Wednesday in the do-or-die Game 6.

His good fortune in all-or-nothing games mirrors that of the Lightning franchise, which is 3-0 in Game 7s. On Friday, Tampa Bay will try to become the first N.H.L. team to go 4-0 in Game 7s.

If there is an advantage to be had, chances are Tampa Bay’s resourceful coach, Guy Boucher, will find it. On Wednesday morning, he noted that one of the referees assigned to that night’s Game 6 had penalized Lightning players at a far higher rate than the Lightning’s opponents.

“It’s 24-9 against, right?” Boucher said of the previous four Tampa Bay games refereed by Eric Furlatt, though he did not mention Furlatt by name. “Yes, I’m aware of it. Very aware of it. Very, very aware of it.”

In Game 6, the Bruins got five power plays to the Lightning’s four, and Tampa Bay wound up outscoring Boston on the power play, 3-1.

“Hopefully what was said today didn’t have any impact on that,” Julien said after the game of Boucher’s comments. “Because if it did, I’d be really disappointed.”

The N.H.L. will announce the referees for Game 7 on Friday morning, a league spokesman said. 

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Stanley Cup Finals to Start in Vancouver on June 1

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Stanley Cup finals, between Vancouver and either Boston or Tampa, will begin on June 1 in Vancouver, the NHL announced on Thursday.

The Canucks, winners of the Western Conference, will host the first two games of the best-of-seven series, as well as the fifth and seventh games, if required.

Their opponents will be decided when the Boston Bruins host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday in the deciding seventh game of the Eastern Conference.

The Eastern Conference winner will host the third and fourth games of the finals, and game six, if needed.

Stanley Cup schedule:

Game 1 - Wednesday, June 1 at Vancouver

Game 2 - Saturday, June 4 at Vancouver

Game 3 - Monday, June 6 at Boston or Tampa Bay

Game 4 - Wednesday, June 8 at Boston or Tampa Bay

Game 5 - Friday, June 10 at Vancouver (if required)

Game 6 - Monday, June 13 at Boston or Tampa Bay (if required)

Game 7 - Wednesday, June 15 at Vancouver (if required)

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh))

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Lightning 5, Bruins 4: Lightning Tops Bruins, Forcing Decisive Game

Game 7 is Friday night in Boston. The Bruins are seeking their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 21 years, and the Lightning will try to clinch its first appearance on hockey’s biggest stage since it won its only N.H.L. championship in 2004.

The Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks await the winner in the finals.

St. Louis also assisted on a third-period goal that put the Lightning up, 4-2. His second goal — and N.H.L.-leading 10th of the playoffs — restored Tampa Bay’s two-goal lead after Boston pulled to 4-3 on one of two goals Krejci scored to keep the Bruins within striking distance in the closing minutes.

Roloson, who didn’t play in Game 5 after being pulled from two of the previous three games because of ineffectiveness, also gave up a pair of first-period goals and finished with 16 saves.

Boston’s Tim Thomas gave up another early goal, then struggled after Krejci and Milan Lucic scored to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead through one period.

The Lightning took control when St. Louis, Purcell and Steven Stamkos scored power-play goals within a 12-minute span of the second and third periods.

Roloson improved to 7-0 in elimination games during his career, including 4-0 this postseason.

The Lightning rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Pittsburgh in the first round, with their 41-year-old goalie shutting out the Penguins in Game 7 on the road.

Tampa Bay’s coach, Guy Boucher, gave backup goalie Mike Smith his first career playoff start Monday night, saying he felt Roloson — whose midseason acquisition was one of the keys to Tampa Bay emerging as a contender — needed a “breather” after starting the Lightning’s first 15 postseason games. Smith stopped 17 of 19 shots in the Game 5 loss, but Boucher didn’t hesitate to go back to Roloson with the Lightning facing elimination.

“Personally, I don’t like the word desperation. ... To me, it’s just another game,” Roloson said after the Lightning’s skate Wednesday morning. “You have to focus on your job.”

Boston’s coach, Claude Julien, said his team would need to play its best game of the series to advance.

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Slap Shot: Do or Dye Victory for the Lightning

There are many ways to support your favorite teams, from wearing squishy foam No. 1 fingers to face-painting.

And yes, there are the beloved Green Men of Vancouver.

But the Tampa Bay Lightning took a different tack to drum up team love and good karma for Wednesday’s win-or-die Game 6 against the Bruins. Make that dye and win Game 6.

Nothing says go team like dumping 36 gallons of environmentally safe blue dye into Tampa Bay’s Garrison Channel, turning the seaway into a bright shade of Lightning blue.

Maybe the blue hue worked its magic, as the Lightning won, 5-4, forcing Friday’s Game 7 in Boston.

The team paired with the Florida Aquarium in the endeavor, wanting to show support for the Lightning in the Eastern Conference finals and the Tampa Bay area’s marine life.

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NY Islanders Captain Weight Retires, Becomes Assistant Coach

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Islanders captain Doug Weight announced his retirement on Thursday, ending a career that spanned 19 seasons in the National Hockey League.

If it happens on ice and it involves hitting and scoring, The Times's Slap Shot blog is on it.

The 40-year-old, who played for six NHL teams but mostly with the Edmonton Oilers and St. Louis Blues, will remain with the Islanders as an assistant coach and advisor.

"He has taken our young core of players, over the past three years, and helped elevate their game to a point where we now see our franchise competing with the top teams in the league," Islanders general manager Garth Snow said in a statement.

A four-time All-Star, Weight played 1,238 regular season and 97 postseason games in his career, scoring more than 300 goals and 1,100 points.

He won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and played on three U.S. Olympic teams, winning at silver medal at Salt Lake in 2006.

He had 278 goals and 1,033 points during his career.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh; Editing by Julian Linden; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Lights Go Out on Battling Tampa Bay

"We have to be proud of our players. We put everything on the ice. It gives you hope for the future," Boucher, the former coach of minor league Hamilton Bulldogs, told reporters.

Boucher admitted the wanted to win for Wayne Fleming, its assistant coach, who underwent surgery for a malignant brain tumor on May 3.

"Every win that we got put a smile on his face, and that was really important to us," he said. "It's too bad that we couldn't put a smile on his face tonight."

The Lightning faced relentless pressure from Boston and were outshot 38 to 24.

The Bruins' only goal, Nathan Horton's deft deflection of a David Krejci pass, came with less than eight minutes to play in the third period.

After Tampa's 6-5 victory in a free-wheeling game six on Wednesday, Friday's decider was a total contrast.

"It was in overtime the entire game, or that's how it felt. It was about who was going to make that one mistake, and it was us," said Boucher.

"I've looked at the clip five times now and it's hard to look at. It's one little defensive mistake."

The lopsided shooting early in the game wore down Tampa Bay, said Boucher.

"Boston was coming hard and we could feel our energy level going down, even at the end of the first period," he said. "But Rollie (goal-tender Dwayne Roloson) was quite outstanding."

Roloson, 41, who joined Tampa Bay mid-season from the New York Islanders, was philosophic.

"It was just one of those nights," he said. "I give our guys a lot of credit. They have battled through adversity ever since I have been here."

Lightning center Steven Stamkos sustained a sickening blow to the face early in the second period when he took a powerful shot from Boston's Johnny Boychuck that was deflected off teammate Martin St. Louis's stick.

But in true hockey fashion Stamkos was back on the ice just minutes after skating to the dressing room, hand over his face.

"I have broken my nose before ... Nothing was going to keep anyone in this dressing room to stay out of this game," Stamkos said.

"Stammer (Stamkos) is a warrior," Tampa Bay forward Ryan Malone said of his teammate. "It is stick on puck, and you take one in the face and that could be the difference."

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Alastair Himmer)

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NY Islanders Captain Weight Retires, Becomes Assistant Coach

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Islanders captain Doug Weight announced his retirement on Thursday, ending a career that spanned 19 seasons in the National Hockey League.

If it happens on ice and it involves hitting and scoring, The Times's Slap Shot blog is on it.

The 40-year-old, who played for six NHL teams but mostly with the Edmonton Oilers and St. Louis Blues, will remain with the Islanders as an assistant coach and advisor.

"He has taken our young core of players, over the past three years, and helped elevate their game to a point where we now see our franchise competing with the top teams in the league," Islanders general manager Garth Snow said in a statement.

A four-time All-Star, Weight played 1,238 regular season and 97 postseason games in his career, scoring more than 300 goals and 1,100 points.

He won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and played on three U.S. Olympic teams, winning at silver medal at Salt Lake in 2006.

He had 278 goals and 1,033 points during his career.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh; Editing by Julian Linden; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Hockey’s Most Decorated

Rangers goalie Gilles Gratton displayed a new lion's head mask in January 1977 after a game against St. Louis at Madison Square Garden. The design is one of the most famous painted masks in hockey, and Gratton was so renowned for flakiness that he was nicknamed Grattooney the Looney.

Among his many idiosyncrasies, Gratton believed that he had led past lives, including one as a soldier in the Spanish Inquisition that ended when he was run through by a lance. He also believed in astrology, so he had a mask painted up in his astrological sign, Leo. He wore it only that one season, his last before retiring at 24. But it is vividly remembered to this day.

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Full Steam Ahead for Thomas the Tank in Boston

The Bruins beat the Lightning 1-0 on Nathan Horton's goal with less than eight minutes remaining to edge the Eastern Conference finals by a 4-3 margin.

Thomas, a 37-year-old U.S. Olympian nicknamed "The Tank," also shut out Tampa Bay in Game Three of the series on May 19.

"He's not getting any younger, right? But one think I can say is he's getting better," Boston head coach Claude Julien said of his goalkeeper.

Thomas said the win felt like an incredible team effort. "We've just got such great character on this team. We got it done."

Thomas' team mates continued to heap praise on their goalie.

"He is definitely going to win a Vezina this year," said Bruins forward Milan Lucic, referring to NHL's trophy for the season's best goaltender. "Hats off to Timmy, playing as well as he has."

The Bruins, who last lifted NHL's biggest prize in 1972, will face the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the best-of-seven finals, setting up an emotional trip home for the 22-year-old Lucic.

"Just to make the Stanley Cup finals is a dream come true, but to be able to play in your home town makes it extra special," Lucic said.

Boston out-shot the Lightning 38-24 and Julien said the key was that the team did not get frustrated after dominating for the first two periods without making a breakthrough.

"I could hear what they were talking about in the dressing room and it was bang-on. The guys had the right mind-set tonight. They stuck with it," Julien added.

"I couldn't have asked for a better game from our team in a Game Seven."

Right-winger Horton, 25, has scored two of the three series-clinching goals for Boston in this year's playoff run. He put the Bruins over the top against Montreal in the first round, also a Game Seven victory.

"Horton has played like a big game player. Overtime goals and Game Seven goals. He's kept a lot of energy and a lot of excitement to go out there and play the way he did," Julien said.

Friday was a rarity: the first penalty-free NHL playoff game in at least 20 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. "I think both teams were very disciplined tonight," Julien added.

(Editing by John O'Brien)

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Vancouver Unfazed by Stanley Cup Wait

The league announced the best-of-seven series will begin Wednesday in Vancouver, which is a later start than many observers had expected.

Western Conference champions Vancouver advanced to the final Tuesday by defeating San Jose in game five of that series. But the Eastern Conference final will not be decided until Friday's game between Boston and Tampa Bay.

A quicker start for the finals might have given Vancouver an edge in facing a tired opponent that faced the prospect of playing seven games then flying across the continent to meet the Canucks.

"It is what it is," Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin said.

Sedin said there were plenty of examples of teams that have a rest-advantage going into a playoff series only to lose the opening games.

Player said they also welcomed the chance to recover from all the minor injuries they took in the last playoff round and to refocus mentally after the excitement of advancing to the finals.

"It gets you out of the roller coaster ride of being up so high after the win. It kind of brings you back down to earth to prepare for the next round," defenseman Sami Salo said.

This is the first time in 17 years Vancouver has advanced to the finals, so Stanley Cup fever has gripped the city on Canada's Pacific coast.

Coach Alain Vigneault said while the team was enjoying the excitement, he recognizes part of its job through the playoffs is to make sure players do not get caught up in the distractions.

"I think so far we have done a real good job of making sure that they stay focused on that one game at a time mentality," Vigneault said.

(Reporting Allan Dowd, Editing by Julian Linden)

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Vancouver Unfazed by Stanley Cup Wait

The league announced the best-of-seven series will begin Wednesday in Vancouver, which is a later start than many observers had expected.

Western Conference champions Vancouver advanced to the final Tuesday by defeating San Jose in game five of that series. But the Eastern Conference final will not be decided until Friday's game between Boston and Tampa Bay.

A quicker start for the finals might have given Vancouver an edge in facing a tired opponent that faced the prospect of playing seven games then flying across the continent to meet the Canucks.

"It is what it is," Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin said.

Sedin said there were plenty of examples of teams that have a rest-advantage going into a playoff series only to lose the opening games.

Player said they also welcomed the chance to recover from all the minor injuries they took in the last playoff round and to refocus mentally after the excitement of advancing to the finals.

"It gets you out of the roller coaster ride of being up so high after the win. It kind of brings you back down to earth to prepare for the next round," defenseman Sami Salo said.

This is the first time in 17 years Vancouver has advanced to the finals, so Stanley Cup fever has gripped the city on Canada's Pacific coast.

Coach Alain Vigneault said while the team was enjoying the excitement, he recognizes part of its job through the playoffs is to make sure players do not get caught up in the distractions.

"I think so far we have done a real good job of making sure that they stay focused on that one game at a time mentality," Vigneault said.

(Reporting Allan Dowd, Editing by Julian Linden)

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Bruins Rest as Long Season Gets Even Longer

Instead, the Boston Bruins captain waved his teammates over to pose for a picture.

"I liked the touch that Zee had, bringing the group around the trophy. I haven't seen that before," general manager Peter Chiarelli said Saturday, a day after the Bruins beat Tampa Bay 1-0 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to earn a chance to play for the Stanley Cup. "You know, it was just a good time. It was a good moment, just for the organization, and it was a feel-good moment. So I was able to enjoy that for a little bit."

Tim Thomas stopped 24 shots for his third career playoff shutout — his second of the conference finals — and Nathan Horton deflected a pass from David Krejci into the net with 7:33 left for the only goal. With that, the Bruins earned the right to play the Vancouver Canucks for their first Stanley Cup since 1972.

"It was a special feeling," Chiarelli said. "You look over and see the ice, see these guys and watch how they celebrate, how they, how emotional they are. You felt good for them, you really felt good for them. ... Then immediately after that feeling passed, I realized that we have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. And I'm still feeling that today. That's a great feeling."

Although four of the first six games of the conference finals were high-scoring affairs that left both goaltenders struggling for answers — and left Tampa Bay's Dwayne Roloson on the bench — the finale was defensive duel with no penalties at all. Lightning coach Guy Boucher said the entire game felt like sudden-death overtime, and it might as well have been.

Horton's goal allowed the Boston fans to celebrate, but it wasn't until the final seconds ticked off the clock that the players streamed over the boards and fans began showering the ice with souvenir towels. The Bruins surrounded Tim Thomas to congratulate him on his second shutout of the series, and no one seemed happier than backup goalie Tuukka Rask, who has not played in the postseason.

"Tuukka was like mugging about 10 guys," Chiarelli said. "He was moving around the most and jumping on guys. So that was just kind of funny."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly brought out the conference trophy — Boston's first since 1990 — but Chara was only mildly interested in the shiny bauble.

"I thought it would be great to have all the guys with it," he said. "It's a team thing. It's something I decided to do and everybody liked it."

And that told Chiarelli that he had the right man wearing the captain's "C'' on his sweater.

"It says a lot about the team," Chiarelli said. "You're probably thinking about a bunch of different things, like, 'Wow, we made it,' and all this stuff. Well, you can tell what's first on his mind: Let's get the team up there. And you look at the photo afterward — it's a pretty cool photo.

"He's growing exponentially as a leader, and I'm certain that he would say also that his support group is very strong. And it has been getting stronger as a group. So he's a very effective and very good leader for this team."

The Bruins took the day off Saturday to rest after their seven-game series. They will return to practice Sunday and leave Monday for Vancouver, where they will play Games 1 and 2 on Wednesday and Saturday. The series returns to Boston on June 6 and 8.

The first casualty of their Stanley Cup run: A "Glee Live!" concert at the TD Garden had to be rescheduled.

Also Saturday, Chiarelli confirmed that Horton was fined by the league for spraying a Tampa Bay fan with water after Game 6. Chiarelli did not disclose the amount of the fine.

"That's an unfortunate incident," Chiarelli said. "I didn't really focus on it and I didn't talk to Nathan about it. He has been fined. So that issue has been resolved."

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Isles' Doug Weight Retires After 19 NHL Seasons

The longtime captain who played for six teams announced his retirement Thursday at a Long Island hotel — about a slap shot away from the Nassau Coliseum — and accepted a job with the Islanders as an assistant coach and senior adviser to general manager Garth Snow.

Snow provided a bit of help to the 40-year-old Weight, who bid a tearful farewell to the game he has played since he was a boy in Michigan. Weight paused several times during his prepared remarks to wipe his eyes with tissues provided by Snow, utter an audible sigh, and take sips of water as he tried to corral his increasing emotions.

"Saying goodbye and never going to play again in the league, it's terrible," Weight said. "It's tough. It's a sickening, sad feeling, but it's also a new chapter to hopefully the greatest part of my life."

Weight will work with the power play in his job as an assistant coach, and will help Snow in all aspects of personnel decisions whether it be free-agent signings, trades, or draft preparation. Weight thinks he will ultimately prefer the front-office side of the business.

"I would lean toward the management more than the coaching, but that's just because I'm green and I don't know," he said. "In six months I could tell you, 'This is unbelievable. I love being behind the bench.'"

A back injury that cut his final season way short hastened the decision to end his playing career. Weight didn't play after Nov. 17, having totaled two goals and seven assists. He played in only 36 games during the 2009-10 season and 53 games the previous season, his first with the Islanders.

"My health hasn't come back as much as I'd like," Weight said. "I still have some issues with my back and some soreness. If I felt 100 percent at the end of the season, I think I'd still be making this decision. I'm fulfilled and I feel good about it."

In 1,238 NHL games with six teams, Weight had 278 goals and 1,033 points as one of the league's top playmakers. He won a World Cup of Hockey championship for the United States, and was a three-time Olympian — winning a silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

His time with the Islanders made a lasting impression — Weight and his family have relocated from St. Louis to make their home on Long Island.

Weight, a four-time All-Star who ranks sixth in career points among American-born players, also will work with the NHL Network during the upcoming Stanley Cup finals.

All of that experience and insight convinced Snow to keep Weight within the organization that has missed the playoffs in four straight seasons and five of six.

"He has a wealth of knowledge and he has a great hockey mind that can help our team get to the next level," Snow said.

Weight was flanked at Thursday's announcement by Snow and Islanders owner Charles Wang. Also attending the news conference were family, friends and former teammates such as Bill Guerin, as well as some current New York players.

"I knew the writing was on the wall and it was something I was going to have to face," Weight said. "As sad as it is, I am very excited and fulfilled with my career. You can't have regrets. I just wish I was healthy."

Weight's long career started in New York, with the Rangers in 1991. He spent parts of nine seasons with the Edmonton Oilers and became a star there, posting 104 points in 1995-96, including a career-best 79 assists. After a stay of three-plus seasons with the St. Louis Blues, Weight was dealt to Carolina in January 2006. He helped the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup before returning to St. Louis in the offseason.

Weight was traded again by the Blues in 2007 to Anaheim and then signed with the Islanders the following summer. He joined longtime friend and fellow American star Guerin, who was New York's captain at the time.

Guerin and Weight were teammates often along the way, most notably in Edmonton, St. Louis and on U.S. teams. Their reunion in New York was short as Guerin was traded to Pittsburgh in March 2009 during their first season together. Weight took over as captain in the 2009-10 season.

"He could make plays, he could score goals, he could stand up for his teammates in the dressing room, he could take control at any time," said Guerin, who ended his 18-year career in December. "You hope that what you bring rubs off on the guys who are going to be carrying the torch. I like to feel that I had some influence on some of the younger players, and I know for sure Doug did."

Weight, chosen by the Rangers with the 34th pick in the 1990 draft, made his NHL debut in 1991. He began preparing for his post-playing career last season, spending some games behind the bench alongside coach Jack Capuano.

"Just the five games last season I stood on the bench helped me immensely," Weight said. "It's going to be an easy transition for me."

Weight has served as a mentor to 2009 No. 1 overall pick John Tavares, the Islanders' franchise player who has spent two seasons in the NHL. Tavares and forward Matt Moulson lived with Weight's family as they got acclimated to the NHL.

"It's going to be a little different, but we got a taste for it at the end of the year," Tavares said. "He's got great insight. With his experience and playing in big situations and crucial games, a lot of that stuff will come into play."

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Canucks’ Malhotra May Play In Finals

There were bigger concerns that his vision and career were done.

But on Friday, Malhotra was cleared for “light contact” in practice, reason enough to celebrate — whether or not the popular assistant captain and valuable shutdown center will be ready next week for the Stanley Cup finals. That it is a possibility had teammates smiling.

“There’s a lot of ifs still,” the captain Henrik Sedin said. “But we’re just extremely happy to have him on the ice and to see where he is now from two or three days after the incident, when we were concerned about his future in terms of losing his vision.

“And now he’s back on the ice practicing with us, that’s good enough for us and it’s up to him now to see how he feels.”

Malhotra actually rejoined the Canucks at practice just over two weeks ago, at first skating in a team-colored tracksuit and full-face shield. The shield remains to protect an eye that has undergone at least two surgical procedures since being hit during a game March 16.

The team announced five days later that his season was over, but now, 10 weeks after the injury, General Manager Mike Gillis was “cautiously optimistic” that Malhotra would play for the Stanley Cup.

“Coming from the possibility of losing your eye to that stage this quickly is absolutely remarkable,” Gillis said. “If you’re looking at odds, the likelihood of him not experiencing any problems through this that most people go through, it’s remarkable. It’s almost stunning.”

Malhotra still has another surgery remaining, and the recovery time from that is six weeks. But Gillis said it did not need to be performed before he plays.

“The doctors need to be comfortable he is stable, his eye is stable, that absolutely no further damage could ever occur,” Gillis said, adding the team was not counting on anything until it gets that clearance.

“If things continue to go really well, we’re all cautiously optimistic.”

A long delay before the Cup finals start does not hurt Malhotra’s cause. With Boston and Tampa Bay playing Game 7 Friday night to determine their opponent, Game 1 is not until Wednesday night in Vancouver. And after that there are two more days off before the Canucks, who knocked out the San Jose Sharks in five games in the Western Conference finals Tuesday night, host Game 2.

Whether or not Malhotra, the 31-year-old faceoff and penalty-killing specialist, can have an immediate impact remains to be seen. An assistant captain despite being in the first season of a three-year, $7.5 million free-agent contract, Malhotra was second in the league at 61.7 percent on faceoffs, and a big part of a penalty-killing unit ranked No. 1 in the league when he was injured.

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Alexander Ovechkin, the Mad Russian

Levon Biss for The New York TimesBIG STICK Unlike other hockey greats (Gretzky, Orr, Crosby), Ovechkin doesn’t speak softly off the ice.

At the Olympics in Vancouver this year, in an early-round game against Slovakia, the Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin toppled Zdeno Chara, the normally immovable 6-foot-9 giant

who plays defense for the Boston Bruins, like a bus knocking over a lamppost. A few nights later, early in the third period against the Czech Republic, he leveled Jaromir Jagr, the Czechs’ most famous player, with a check so hard that your teeth rattled even if you were watching on TV. Jagr crumpled like a pedestrian who had been run over at a crosswalk.

Jagr is now 38, a literal graybeard, and for the past two seasons has farmed himself out to Russia’s less-stressful professional league. But until Ovechkin ran into him, he had been playing so well in Vancouver that it was as if he had turned back the clock. He even speculated about returning to the National Hockey League when his Russian contract expired. After he was hit, Jagr was not the same player for the rest of the Games. Ovechkin didn’t apologize but told reporters he meant nothing personal by taking Jagr out. “It’s just a moment,” he explained to reporters. “If I have a chance to hit somebody, it does not matter who it is.”

The Czech captain, Patrick Elias, later told me that this particular hit was just hockey as usual and had no bearing on the outcome of the game (which the Czechs lost 4-2), but in fact it was a landmark moment, signaling a changing of the guard. Jagr, big and handsome with a huge mane of dark hair, used to be the most talented and charismatic hockey player in the N.H.L. That job is now held by Ovechkin, who is 24 and brings to it equal charm and likability, possibly even greater skill and certainly more menace. Before the Olympics began, Jagr said, laughing, that the biggest difference between them is that Ovechkin is “crazier.” Already Ovechkin is the most fascinating hockey player in the world. He has a chance to one day be reckoned one of the very best ever — if his passionate, reckless style of play doesn’t cause him to maim himself in the meantime.

Ovechkin, who plays left wing for the Washington Capitals, is 6-foot-2, 233 pounds. He has a massive brow, high cheekbones, a nose broken so often it bends permanently to the left, wide-set eyes (one closer to his nose than the other) and a goofy, gap-toothed smile. He sometimes resembles a genial caveman. Despite his appearance and history of thunderous hits, though, Ovie, as his adoring fans call him, is hardly a goon. In 2005-6, he was the N.H.L. rookie of the year, scoring 52 goals, tied for third most in the league. In the 2007-8 and 2008-9 seasons he led the league in goals, with 65 and 56, and won back-to-back M.V.P. awards. He has been at, or near, the top of the scoring chart this year and is on track for another 50-goal season.

Ovie doesn’t just score often, he scores memorably. Against Phoenix in January of his rookie year, there was what is now known simply as the Goal. Going one on one against the Coyotes’ defenseman Paul Mara, he got knocked down and landed on his back but kept the puck on the end of his stick and, as he slid backward, flung it over his head and into the net. This magical feat was viewed so often on YouTube that Caps officials estimate ticket sales went up 15 percent as a direct result. (After January 2008, when Ovechkin signed a 13-year, $124 million contract, which he negotiated himself, sales increased another 20 percent.)

There are now so many celebrated Ovie goals on YouTube that connoisseurs can argue over them like stamp collectors comparing the 1840 British Penny Black, say, with the 1868 Franklin Z-Grill. Which is better? The goal against Buffalo in December 2008, when he slipped the puck around a defender’s legs, fell and then, while sliding on his stomach, whipped a shot through the goalie’s leg pads? Or the one against Detroit in January 2009, when he dragged the puck between his own legs, faked a backhander and then drilled a shot into the top of the net? What about the stupefying goal against Montreal the following month, when, catching the Canadiens on a bad line change, Ovechkin spun 360 degrees, passed the puck to himself off the boards, got knocked on his side and while skidding across the goal mouth lifted a shot over the goalie’s outstretched leg? Against the New York Rangers in early February, he scored a one-hander, pushing the puck between the skates of the defenseman Michal Rozsival, picking it up on the other side and then stabbing it with one arm past the Rangers’ goalie, Henrik Lundqvist.

You can’t really practice moves like these, though in idle moments at the Capitals’ practice rink, on the top floor of a parking garage in Arlington, Va., Ovechkin sometimes seems to be working on them. He likes to scoop the puck up with his stick, bounce it off the blade a few times and then bat it, baseball style, into the net or else flip it backhand over his shoulder. For all his sliding acrobatics, Ovechkin is even more effective, if less spectacular, when he stays on his feet. He is such a powerful skater that he can cover the distance from the blue line to the goal in just a couple of strides, and scores a lot of goals simply by barreling down the left side, dangling the puck for an instant, the way Mark Messier used to, and then snapping off a wrist shot that is one of the hardest in the game. Ovechkin scores a lot because he shoots a lot, firing away more often than anyone has since the days of Phil Esposito.

Charles McGrath, a former editor of The Book Review, is a writer at large for The New York Times.

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Weight, Islanders’ Captain, Retires

“Saying goodbye and never going to play again in the league, it’s terrible,” Weight said at a news conference.

He will remain with the team as an assistant to Coach Jack Capuano and an adviser to General Manager Garth Snow.

Weight paused several times to fight back tears. But he also displayed an easy wit, as when he described the times he has run his son’s hockey practice.

“ ‘Look, Doug’s running the practice,’ the other parents would say,” Weight said. “But I don’t know any drills — the kids are everywhere, it’s like the worst practice ever. And the parents would say, ‘That was awesome!’ ”

Weight joined the Islanders as a free agent in 2008, but because of injuries, he played only 53 games in his first season, 36 in his second and 18 in his third.

“I wish I would have been healthier — I left 150 games on the table the last three or four years and could have helped teams get into the playoffs,” he said. “But it’s been a wonderful thing, and the game’s been great. I have no regrets.”

Weight was credited with mentoring the team’s young players. Two of the Islanders’ goal-scoring stars, John Tavares and Matt Moulson, lived with Weight’s family during their first seasons as Islanders.

Perhaps Weight’s greatest achievements came as a member of the United States national team. In 1996, he skated on a line alongside Brett Hull, scoring 7 points in seven games as the United States beat Canada twice in Montreal to take the World Cup of Hockey title.

“That was an amazing feat; what a team we had,” Weight, a Detroit native, said of winning on Canadian ice with a roster that included Mike Modano, Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch, Jeremy Roenick, Phil Housley, Keith Tkachuk, Tony Amonte, John LeClair and Mike Richter.

Weight also played in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Olympics and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. At the 1991 World Junior Championship, he scored 19 points on 4 goals and 15 assists, still the single-tournament record for an American junior.

Weight said one of his regrets was falling to Canada in the gold-medal game at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

“I felt like we were the best team in that tournament by far,” he said.

Weight was chosen by the Rangers in the second round of the 1990 entry draft. After two years at Lake Superior State, he made his N.H.L. debut in a 1991 playoff game against Washington in what he called “the most stressful day I can ever remember.”

“On my first shift while covering for a pinching defenseman, I tripped pivoting backward and fell into the Caps’ bench,” Weight said. As he remembered it, the play ended when Michal Pivonka shot the puck over the Rangers’ net, “probably saving my career, so I thank him for that.”

Weight was a promising 22-year-old in his second full season when he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on March 17, 1993, for Esa Tikkanen, who became a big part of the 1994 Stanley Cup team. The trade took place at 4 p.m. before a Rangers-Oilers game at Madison Square Garden.

“They put my equipment in a shopping cart and pushed it down the hall to the visitors room,” Weight said. He remembered passing Tikkanen, whose jabbering speech was said to be hard even for fellow Finns to follow, in the Garden hallway.

“He said, ‘Good luck,’ and he was laughing,” Weight said. “But I remember being numb. It was a very emotional and overwhelming turn of events, to say the least.”

Weight played in Edmonton for nine years, the last two as captain, followed by four in St. Louis. He went to Carolina as a rental at the trade deadline of the 2006-7 season and helped lead the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals. He sustained a shoulder injury in Game 5 and missed the rest of the final series, but Weight’s name was inscribed on the Cup when the Hurricanes won Game 7.

“I was 35 years old and starting to think I’d never get the chance,” Weight said. “I was fortunate.”

Weight returned to St. Louis for two seasons, spent part of another in Anaheim and finished with three years on Long Island.

In 97 playoff games, he scored 23 goals and 49 assists for 72 points. In 1,238 regular-season games, he scored 278 goals and had 755 assists for 1,033 points in 1,238 games.

Tavares, Moulson and their Islanders teammates Mark Eaton and Mike Mottau attended the news conference, as did Bill Guerin, who played alongside Weight on the Islanders, the Oilers and the Blues.

Weight said he would begin his new job immediately, starting with preparations for the amateur draft in June. Once the season starts, he will help run the Islanders’ power play.

“I have to go right to the office after this,” Weight said. “I’m excited to see what happens.”

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Bruins Rest as Long Season Gets Even Longer

Instead, the Boston Bruins captain waved his teammates over to pose for a picture.

"I liked the touch that Zee had, bringing the group around the trophy. I haven't seen that before," general manager Peter Chiarelli said Saturday, a day after the Bruins beat Tampa Bay 1-0 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to earn a chance to play for the Stanley Cup. "You know, it was just a good time. It was a good moment, just for the organization, and it was a feel-good moment. So I was able to enjoy that for a little bit."

Tim Thomas stopped 24 shots for his third career playoff shutout — his second of the conference finals — and Nathan Horton deflected a pass from David Krejci into the net with 7:33 left for the only goal. With that, the Bruins earned the right to play the Vancouver Canucks for their first Stanley Cup since 1972.

"It was a special feeling," Chiarelli said. "You look over and see the ice, see these guys and watch how they celebrate, how they, how emotional they are. You felt good for them, you really felt good for them. ... Then immediately after that feeling passed, I realized that we have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. And I'm still feeling that today. That's a great feeling."

Although four of the first six games of the conference finals were high-scoring affairs that left both goaltenders struggling for answers — and left Tampa Bay's Dwayne Roloson on the bench — the finale was defensive duel with no penalties at all. Lightning coach Guy Boucher said the entire game felt like sudden-death overtime, and it might as well have been.

Horton's goal allowed the Boston fans to celebrate, but it wasn't until the final seconds ticked off the clock that the players streamed over the boards and fans began showering the ice with souvenir towels. The Bruins surrounded Tim Thomas to congratulate him on his second shutout of the series, and no one seemed happier than backup goalie Tuukka Rask, who has not played in the postseason.

"Tuukka was like mugging about 10 guys," Chiarelli said. "He was moving around the most and jumping on guys. So that was just kind of funny."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly brought out the conference trophy — Boston's first since 1990 — but Chara was only mildly interested in the shiny bauble.

"I thought it would be great to have all the guys with it," he said. "It's a team thing. It's something I decided to do and everybody liked it."

And that told Chiarelli that he had the right man wearing the captain's "C'' on his sweater.

"It says a lot about the team," Chiarelli said. "You're probably thinking about a bunch of different things, like, 'Wow, we made it,' and all this stuff. Well, you can tell what's first on his mind: Let's get the team up there. And you look at the photo afterward — it's a pretty cool photo.

"He's growing exponentially as a leader, and I'm certain that he would say also that his support group is very strong. And it has been getting stronger as a group. So he's a very effective and very good leader for this team."

The Bruins took the day off Saturday to rest after their seven-game series. They will return to practice Sunday and leave Monday for Vancouver, where they will play Games 1 and 2 on Wednesday and Saturday. The series returns to Boston on June 6 and 8.

The first casualty of their Stanley Cup run: A "Glee Live!" concert at the TD Garden had to be rescheduled.

Also Saturday, Chiarelli confirmed that Horton was fined by the league for spraying a Tampa Bay fan with water after Game 6. Chiarelli did not disclose the amount of the fine.

"That's an unfortunate incident," Chiarelli said. "I didn't really focus on it and I didn't talk to Nathan about it. He has been fined. So that issue has been resolved."

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Stanley Cup Finals to Start in Vancouver on June 1

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Stanley Cup finals, between Vancouver and either Boston or Tampa, will begin on June 1 in Vancouver, the NHL announced on Thursday.

The Canucks, winners of the Western Conference, will host the first two games of the best-of-seven series, as well as the fifth and seventh games, if required.

Their opponents will be decided when the Boston Bruins host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday in the deciding seventh game of the Eastern Conference.

The Eastern Conference winner will host the third and fourth games of the finals, and game six, if needed.

Stanley Cup schedule:

Game 1 - Wednesday, June 1 at Vancouver

Game 2 - Saturday, June 4 at Vancouver

Game 3 - Monday, June 6 at Boston or Tampa Bay

Game 4 - Wednesday, June 8 at Boston or Tampa Bay

Game 5 - Friday, June 10 at Vancouver (if required)

Game 6 - Monday, June 13 at Boston or Tampa Bay (if required)

Game 7 - Wednesday, June 15 at Vancouver (if required)

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh))

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Russia Sack Coach Bykov After Disappointing Worlds

The Russian ice hockey federation (RIHF) made a unanimous decision to part company with Bykov and assistant coach Igor Zakharkin after the national team finished out of the medals at a world championship for the first time since 2006.

"Their contracts had a clause that they could be fired if the team fails to secure a place on the podium," RIHF chief Vladislav Tretiak told reporters. "The executive board was unanimous in giving both coaches a failing grade."

Tretiak declined to comment on Bykov's possible replacement, who would get a chance to lead the team through the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but local media named Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, coach of AK Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League, as the front-runner for the job.

Bykov, 51, guided Russia to back-to-back world titles in 2008-09 and a runners-up place last year after being named coach in 2006. He has kept his job despite a poor showing at last year's Vancouver Olympics, where the Russians suffered a humiliating 7-3 defeat by Canada in the quarter-finals.

The Russians had been one of the favorites for gold in Slovakia after drafting big-name players from the NHL such as Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk.

However they failed to shine on Slovakian ice as Russia set a dubious record of losing more games than winning for the first time since they began competing in world championships in 1954.

Former Russia captain Vyacheslav Fetisov, Bykov's long-time team mate both at CSKA Moscow and the Soviet national team, said it was time to give somebody else a chance to lead Russia.

"At the RIHF's meeting I was hoping to hear an assessment of our performance in Slovakia," said Fetisov, who coached Russia to a bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"But no adequate explanation was given and there was also no plan for the future. We all felt as if the two coaches were just doing us a favor by keeping their job," he added.

"I think we should have made that switch much sooner, right after the Vancouver fiasco, but now is the time. We can't wait any longer with the Sochi Games less than three years away."

(Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov; Editing by Clare Fallon)

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NY Islanders Captain Weight Retires, Becomes Assistant Coach

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Islanders captain Doug Weight announced his retirement on Thursday, ending a career that spanned 19 seasons in the National Hockey League.

If it happens on ice and it involves hitting and scoring, The Times's Slap Shot blog is on it.

The 40-year-old, who played for six NHL teams but mostly with the Edmonton Oilers and St. Louis Blues, will remain with the Islanders as an assistant coach and advisor.

"He has taken our young core of players, over the past three years, and helped elevate their game to a point where we now see our franchise competing with the top teams in the league," Islanders general manager Garth Snow said in a statement.

A four-time All-Star, Weight played 1,238 regular season and 97 postseason games in his career, scoring more than 300 goals and 1,100 points.

He won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and played on three U.S. Olympic teams, winning at silver medal at Salt Lake in 2006.

He had 278 goals and 1,033 points during his career.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh; Editing by Julian Linden; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Slap Shot: Rafalski Retires, Pain Trumping Money

In the end, Red Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski couldn’t deny the painful truth his body had been telling him all season.

Carlos Osorio/Associated PressDetroit defenseman Brian Rafalski announced his retirement Wednesday.

Chronic back and right knee injuries took away his ability to do what he wanted on the ice, Rafalski said, and his body required more and more rehab and care to keep him competing.

Rafalski, 37 and with a year to go on his contract that would pay him $6 million, retired Wednesday. He played in the N.H.L. for 15 years, winning two Stanley Cups with the Devils (2000 and 2003) and one with Detroit (2008).

“The decision was made between myself and my wife approximately two months ago,” Rafalski said, according to the Detroit Free Press, during his Wednesday press conference at Joe Louis Arena. “We went through a long process of weighing different factors in our lives.

“At the end of the day, it came down to priorities, with the top three priorities being serving God, serving my family and serving others. With hockey not being at the top, it’s time for me to move on.”

In the end, the injuries and recurring pain were too much for Rafalski to overcome.

“This was probably the most challenging season of my career,” Rafalski told the Detroit News. “Physically, mentally and spiritually.”

“…There wasn’t a day this year I wasn’t on the training table. It played a role. I wasn’t able to skate the way I’d like to. It wasn’t as much fun coming to the rink.”

Rafalski’s press conference brought out teammates Todd Bertuzzi, Henrik Zetterberg, Jimmy Howard, Kris Draper and Chris Osgood.

“I’d like to thank everyone for coming in this weather,” Rafalski said. “I’m glad I was able to grab a few of you from the Oprah retirement today, which is also very big news.”

In addition to the three Stanley Cups, Rafalski won two Olympic silver medals playing for Team USA, in the 2002 and 2010 Olympics, and was named the best defenseman in the 2010 tournament.

Rafalski was hampered this season, since training camp, by his right knee. He had arthroscopic surgery, missing the start of the season.

His back issues were ongoing, dating back a couple of years.

Rafalski said he is happy to have come back to his native Detroit to play for the Red Wings. He was raised in suburban Detroit, and was a Red Wings fan since childhood.

“It was an opportunity of a lifetime — the style of play, the quality of players and quality of the organization from top to bottom,” Rafalski said. “It definitely gave me a fresh start.”

Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello said of Rafalski in a statement: “Brian is a quality individual, whose character, commitment, work ethic, and team-first
attitude made him the player and person he is. We were fortunate to have him in a Devils’ sweater for seven seasons, including two Stanley Cup Championships. We wish Brian, Felicity, and their three sons well as they move on to the next chapter in their lives.”

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Weight, Islanders’ Captain, Retires

“Saying goodbye and never going to play again in the league, it’s terrible,” Weight said at a news conference.

He will remain with the team as an assistant to Coach Jack Capuano and an adviser to General Manager Garth Snow.

Weight paused several times to fight back tears. But he also displayed an easy wit, as when he described the times he has run his son’s hockey practice.

“ ‘Look, Doug’s running the practice,’ the other parents would say,” Weight said. “But I don’t know any drills — the kids are everywhere, it’s like the worst practice ever. And the parents would say, ‘That was awesome!’ ”

Weight joined the Islanders as a free agent in 2008, but because of injuries, he played only 53 games in his first season, 36 in his second and 18 in his third.

“I wish I would have been healthier — I left 150 games on the table the last three or four years and could have helped teams get into the playoffs,” he said. “But it’s been a wonderful thing, and the game’s been great. I have no regrets.”

Weight was credited with mentoring the team’s young players. Two of the Islanders’ goal-scoring stars, John Tavares and Matt Moulson, lived with Weight’s family during their first seasons as Islanders.

Perhaps Weight’s greatest achievements came as a member of the United States national team. In 1996, he skated on a line alongside Brett Hull, scoring 7 points in seven games as the United States beat Canada twice in Montreal to take the World Cup of Hockey title.

“That was an amazing feat; what a team we had,” Weight, a Detroit native, said of winning on Canadian ice with a roster that included Mike Modano, Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch, Jeremy Roenick, Phil Housley, Keith Tkachuk, Tony Amonte, John LeClair and Mike Richter.

Weight also played in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Olympics and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. At the 1991 World Junior Championship, he scored 19 points on 4 goals and 15 assists, still the single-tournament record for an American junior.

Weight said one of his regrets was falling to Canada in the gold-medal game at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

“I felt like we were the best team in that tournament by far,” he said.

Weight was chosen by the Rangers in the second round of the 1990 entry draft. After two years at Lake Superior State, he made his N.H.L. debut in a 1991 playoff game against Washington in what he called “the most stressful day I can ever remember.”

“On my first shift while covering for a pinching defenseman, I tripped pivoting backward and fell into the Caps’ bench,” Weight said. As he remembered it, the play ended when Michal Pivonka shot the puck over the Rangers’ net, “probably saving my career, so I thank him for that.”

Weight was a promising 22-year-old in his second full season when he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on March 17, 1993, for Esa Tikkanen, who became a big part of the 1994 Stanley Cup team. The trade took place at 4 p.m. before a Rangers-Oilers game at Madison Square Garden.

“They put my equipment in a shopping cart and pushed it down the hall to the visitors room,” Weight said. He remembered passing Tikkanen, whose jabbering speech was said to be hard even for fellow Finns to follow, in the Garden hallway.

“He said, ‘Good luck,’ and he was laughing,” Weight said. “But I remember being numb. It was a very emotional and overwhelming turn of events, to say the least.”

Weight played in Edmonton for nine years, the last two as captain, followed by four in St. Louis. He went to Carolina as a rental at the trade deadline of the 2006-7 season and helped lead the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals. He sustained a shoulder injury in Game 5 and missed the rest of the final series, but Weight’s name was inscribed on the Cup when the Hurricanes won Game 7.

“I was 35 years old and starting to think I’d never get the chance,” Weight said. “I was fortunate.”

Weight returned to St. Louis for two seasons, spent part of another in Anaheim and finished with three years on Long Island.

In 97 playoff games, he scored 23 goals and 49 assists for 72 points. In 1,238 regular-season games, he scored 278 goals and had 755 assists for 1,033 points in 1,238 games.

Tavares, Moulson and their Islanders teammates Mark Eaton and Mike Mottau attended the news conference, as did Bill Guerin, who played alongside Weight on the Islanders, the Oilers and the Blues.

Weight said he would begin his new job immediately, starting with preparations for the amateur draft in June. Once the season starts, he will help run the Islanders’ power play.

“I have to go right to the office after this,” Weight said. “I’m excited to see what happens.”

View the original article here

Weight, Islanders’ Captain, Retires

“Saying goodbye and never going to play again in the league, it’s terrible,” Weight said at a news conference.

He will remain with the team as an assistant to Coach Jack Capuano and an adviser to General Manager Garth Snow.

Weight paused several times to fight back tears. But he also displayed an easy wit, as when he described the times he has run his son’s hockey practice.

“ ‘Look, Doug’s running the practice,’ the other parents would say,” Weight said. “But I don’t know any drills — the kids are everywhere, it’s like the worst practice ever. And the parents would say, ‘That was awesome!’ ”

Weight joined the Islanders as a free agent in 2008, but because of injuries, he played only 53 games in his first season, 36 in his second and 18 in his third.

“I wish I would have been healthier — I left 150 games on the table the last three or four years and could have helped teams get into the playoffs,” he said. “But it’s been a wonderful thing, and the game’s been great. I have no regrets.”

Weight was credited with mentoring the team’s young players. Two of the Islanders’ goal-scoring stars, John Tavares and Matt Moulson, lived with Weight’s family during their first seasons as Islanders.

Perhaps Weight’s greatest achievements came as a member of the United States national team. In 1996, he skated on a line alongside Brett Hull, scoring 7 points in seven games as the United States beat Canada twice in Montreal to take the World Cup of Hockey title.

“That was an amazing feat; what a team we had,” Weight, a Detroit native, said of winning on Canadian ice with a roster that included Mike Modano, Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch, Jeremy Roenick, Phil Housley, Keith Tkachuk, Tony Amonte, John LeClair and Mike Richter.

Weight also played in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Olympics and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. At the 1991 World Junior Championship, he scored 19 points on 4 goals and 15 assists, still the single-tournament record for an American junior.

Weight said one of his regrets was falling to Canada in the gold-medal game at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

“I felt like we were the best team in that tournament by far,” he said.

Weight was chosen by the Rangers in the second round of the 1990 entry draft. After two years at Lake Superior State, he made his N.H.L. debut in a 1991 playoff game against Washington in what he called “the most stressful day I can ever remember.”

“On my first shift while covering for a pinching defenseman, I tripped pivoting backward and fell into the Caps’ bench,” Weight said. As he remembered it, the play ended when Michal Pivonka shot the puck over the Rangers’ net, “probably saving my career, so I thank him for that.”

Weight was a promising 22-year-old in his second full season when he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on March 17, 1993, for Esa Tikkanen, who became a big part of the 1994 Stanley Cup team. The trade took place at 4 p.m. before a Rangers-Oilers game at Madison Square Garden.

“They put my equipment in a shopping cart and pushed it down the hall to the visitors room,” Weight said. He remembered passing Tikkanen, whose jabbering speech was said to be hard even for fellow Finns to follow, in the Garden hallway.

“He said, ‘Good luck,’ and he was laughing,” Weight said. “But I remember being numb. It was a very emotional and overwhelming turn of events, to say the least.”

Weight played in Edmonton for nine years, the last two as captain, followed by four in St. Louis. He went to Carolina as a rental at the trade deadline of the 2006-7 season and helped lead the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals. He sustained a shoulder injury in Game 5 and missed the rest of the final series, but Weight’s name was inscribed on the Cup when the Hurricanes won Game 7.

“I was 35 years old and starting to think I’d never get the chance,” Weight said. “I was fortunate.”

Weight returned to St. Louis for two seasons, spent part of another in Anaheim and finished with three years on Long Island.

In 97 playoff games, he scored 23 goals and 49 assists for 72 points. In 1,238 regular-season games, he scored 278 goals and had 755 assists for 1,033 points in 1,238 games.

Tavares, Moulson and their Islanders teammates Mark Eaton and Mike Mottau attended the news conference, as did Bill Guerin, who played alongside Weight on the Islanders, the Oilers and the Blues.

Weight said he would begin his new job immediately, starting with preparations for the amateur draft in June. Once the season starts, he will help run the Islanders’ power play.

“I have to go right to the office after this,” Weight said. “I’m excited to see what happens.”

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Canucks Center Malhotra Cleared to Play in Stanley Cup Final

To meet the shortage of primary care doctors, charge to specialize.

Our infatuation with technology provides an easy alternative to love, writes Jonathan Franzen.

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Isles' Doug Weight Retires After 19 NHL Seasons

The longtime captain who played for six teams announced his retirement Thursday at a Long Island hotel — about a slap shot away from the Nassau Coliseum — and accepted a job with the Islanders as an assistant coach and senior adviser to general manager Garth Snow.

Snow provided a bit of help to the 40-year-old Weight, who bid a tearful farewell to the game he has played since he was a boy in Michigan. Weight paused several times during his prepared remarks to wipe his eyes with tissues provided by Snow, utter an audible sigh, and take sips of water as he tried to corral his increasing emotions.

"Saying goodbye and never going to play again in the league, it's terrible," Weight said. "It's tough. It's a sickening, sad feeling, but it's also a new chapter to hopefully the greatest part of my life."

Weight will work with the power play in his job as an assistant coach, and will help Snow in all aspects of personnel decisions whether it be free-agent signings, trades, or draft preparation. Weight thinks he will ultimately prefer the front-office side of the business.

"I would lean toward the management more than the coaching, but that's just because I'm green and I don't know," he said. "In six months I could tell you, 'This is unbelievable. I love being behind the bench.'"

A back injury that cut his final season way short hastened the decision to end his playing career. Weight didn't play after Nov. 17, having totaled two goals and seven assists. He played in only 36 games during the 2009-10 season and 53 games the previous season, his first with the Islanders.

"My health hasn't come back as much as I'd like," Weight said. "I still have some issues with my back and some soreness. If I felt 100 percent at the end of the season, I think I'd still be making this decision. I'm fulfilled and I feel good about it."

In 1,238 NHL games with six teams, Weight had 278 goals and 1,033 points as one of the league's top playmakers. He won a World Cup of Hockey championship for the United States, and was a three-time Olympian — winning a silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

His time with the Islanders made a lasting impression — Weight and his family have relocated from St. Louis to make their home on Long Island.

Weight, a four-time All-Star who ranks sixth in career points among American-born players, also will work with the NHL Network during the upcoming Stanley Cup finals.

All of that experience and insight convinced Snow to keep Weight within the organization that has missed the playoffs in four straight seasons and five of six.

"He has a wealth of knowledge and he has a great hockey mind that can help our team get to the next level," Snow said.

Weight was flanked at Thursday's announcement by Snow and Islanders owner Charles Wang. Also attending the news conference were family, friends and former teammates such as Bill Guerin, as well as some current New York players.

"I knew the writing was on the wall and it was something I was going to have to face," Weight said. "As sad as it is, I am very excited and fulfilled with my career. You can't have regrets. I just wish I was healthy."

Weight's long career started in New York, with the Rangers in 1991. He spent parts of nine seasons with the Edmonton Oilers and became a star there, posting 104 points in 1995-96, including a career-best 79 assists. After a stay of three-plus seasons with the St. Louis Blues, Weight was dealt to Carolina in January 2006. He helped the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup before returning to St. Louis in the offseason.

Weight was traded again by the Blues in 2007 to Anaheim and then signed with the Islanders the following summer. He joined longtime friend and fellow American star Guerin, who was New York's captain at the time.

Guerin and Weight were teammates often along the way, most notably in Edmonton, St. Louis and on U.S. teams. Their reunion in New York was short as Guerin was traded to Pittsburgh in March 2009 during their first season together. Weight took over as captain in the 2009-10 season.

"He could make plays, he could score goals, he could stand up for his teammates in the dressing room, he could take control at any time," said Guerin, who ended his 18-year career in December. "You hope that what you bring rubs off on the guys who are going to be carrying the torch. I like to feel that I had some influence on some of the younger players, and I know for sure Doug did."

Weight, chosen by the Rangers with the 34th pick in the 1990 draft, made his NHL debut in 1991. He began preparing for his post-playing career last season, spending some games behind the bench alongside coach Jack Capuano.

"Just the five games last season I stood on the bench helped me immensely," Weight said. "It's going to be an easy transition for me."

Weight has served as a mentor to 2009 No. 1 overall pick John Tavares, the Islanders' franchise player who has spent two seasons in the NHL. Tavares and forward Matt Moulson lived with Weight's family as they got acclimated to the NHL.

"It's going to be a little different, but we got a taste for it at the end of the year," Tavares said. "He's got great insight. With his experience and playing in big situations and crucial games, a lot of that stuff will come into play."

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Russia Sack Coach Bykov After Disappointing Worlds

The Russian ice hockey federation (RIHF) made a unanimous decision to part company with Bykov and assistant coach Igor Zakharkin after the national team finished out of the medals at a world championship for the first time since 2006.

"Their contracts had a clause that they could be fired if the team fails to secure a place on the podium," RIHF chief Vladislav Tretiak told reporters. "The executive board was unanimous in giving both coaches a failing grade."

Tretiak declined to comment on Bykov's possible replacement, who would get a chance to lead the team through the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but local media named Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, coach of AK Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League, as the front-runner for the job.

Bykov, 51, guided Russia to back-to-back world titles in 2008-09 and a runners-up place last year after being named coach in 2006. He has kept his job despite a poor showing at last year's Vancouver Olympics, where the Russians suffered a humiliating 7-3 defeat by Canada in the quarter-finals.

The Russians had been one of the favorites for gold in Slovakia after drafting big-name players from the NHL such as Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk.

However they failed to shine on Slovakian ice as Russia set a dubious record of losing more games than winning for the first time since they began competing in world championships in 1954.

Former Russia captain Vyacheslav Fetisov, Bykov's long-time team mate both at CSKA Moscow and the Soviet national team, said it was time to give somebody else a chance to lead Russia.

"At the RIHF's meeting I was hoping to hear an assessment of our performance in Slovakia," said Fetisov, who coached Russia to a bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"But no adequate explanation was given and there was also no plan for the future. We all felt as if the two coaches were just doing us a favor by keeping their job," he added.

"I think we should have made that switch much sooner, right after the Vancouver fiasco, but now is the time. We can't wait any longer with the Sochi Games less than three years away."

(Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov; Editing by Clare Fallon)

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