Veteran centre Doug Weight bid a fond farewell to the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes and signed with the team that traded him to Raleigh, N.C., in the first place.

Weight, who was traded to Carolina in January, signed a two-year deal with St. Louis, the team announced Sunday.

Doug Weight scored 16 points in 23 playoff games for the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
(Gerry Broome/Associated Press)

"We are bringing back a player that loves the city of St. Louis and the Blues organization," said newly hired team president John Davidson. "He's a Stanley Cup winner and will be a key part of this team moving forward."

The move was hardly a surprise as Weight made it clear the day he was traded that his first desire was to return to St. Louis.

The team also said that head coach Mike Kitchen was given a multi-year extension.

The 35-year-old Weight scored 15 goals and 42 assists in 70 games with Carolina and St. Louis.

Weight, who struggled in the first two rounds of the playoffs for the Hurricanes, finished with three goals and 13 assists in 23 post-season games.

The five-foot-11, 201-pound centre also had mixed feelings about playing against his former Edmonton Oiler teammates in the Stanley Cup final.

Weight spent nine years with the Oilers, posting a career-high 104 points during the 1995-96 season.

Weight, a Detroit native and four-time all-star, was traded to St. Louis from Edmonton on July 1, 2001, and played four seasons with the Blues.

The Detroit native has scored 885 points in 982 career games.

Kitchen guided the Blues to a dismal 21-46-15 campaign in his first full year as a head coach.

"His work last season during a difficult time proved his strengths and abilities as a head coach in the National Hockey League," said Davidson. "We believe he is the perfect fit to coach our team."

Rangers retain Straka

In another signing Sunday, the New York Rangers agreed to a one-year, $3.1-million US contract with forward Martin Straka.

Playing in his first season with the Rangers, Straka scored 22 goals and 54 assists while appearing in all 82 games.

Despite a solid regular season for New York, the New Jersey Devils held Straka pointless during the team's first-round playoff loss.

With files from Canadian Press