Doug Weight became the second Edmonton Oiler to wear the number 42 when he joined the team by way of a March 17th, 1993 deal with the New York Rangers.

The Oilers, still in the stages of dismantling the dynasty team from the ’80’s, were looking to get younger. The deal, which had been rumoured for weeks, saw the Oilers bring in 23-year-old Weight while sending out 28-year-old Esa Tikkanen.

Edmonton’s appetite in Weight as a prospect had dated back to the year prior when Mark Messier was dealt to the Rangers, as then Oilers GM Glen Sather liked what he saw. The Rangers and their rabid media, meanwhile, had felt Weight wasn’t showing enough despite scoring 23 goals and 70 points in 118 games. The 2nd round pick in the 1990 draft was determined to prove them wrong.

“They play for the day. They’re trying to win each year,” Weight told the Edmonton Journal after the trade. “You’re told at four o’clock, then you go to a different dressing room with totally different guys.”

Weight arrived with the Oilers playing his first game, interestingly enough, that night against the Rangers taking just one shot on goal, but what came next was a glimpse of what was to come.

Through his first 13 games with the Oilers, Weight would score two goals and eight points and when he changed his number to 39 in his first full year in 1993-94, Weight would start to show the potential some never saw. He would score 24 goals with his 74 points pacing all Oilers and continue to produce.

His best season with the Oilers, and in the NHL as a whole, came in the 1995-96 season where he scored 25 goals and 109 points in 82 games. On July 1st, 2001, with the Oilers largely unable to afford Weight, traded him to the St. Louis Blues for Marty Reasoner, Jochen Hecht and Jan Horacek.