Doug Weight is one of the most likeable people you could ever meet. He is friendly and honest and talkative. He is every interviewer’s dream. Yesterday he called into SiriusXM NHL Radio’s morning show with Mike Ross and Mick Kern. He didn’t disappoint in the sound bite category.
As NHL camps open, Weight, who has a dual title with the Islanders was asked questions about his past and the Isles future. While he loves his new job, he said there is nothing better than playing, and he respects the players of today. “They’re a different breed of people and different world we live in. These kids have a 12-month job. You have to be on your game at all times. I feel fortunate to have played when I did. It’s a different time.”
Weight does like his current job and the Islanders. “I believe in what we’re doing here. We’re building from within and seeing some results. We’re very excited.” as he should be. He has seen the development of some of the Isles’ best players first-hand. He said he didn’t want to blame anyone in the organization for their failure, but said it’s been a tough go since he got there in 2002.
“We’ve drafted well. We’ve got some great players and we treat them with respect and expect that back. We’re in for a great year and are happy about the moves we made. We’ve been preparing all summer.
“Culture, people use it all the time. It’s important and you need to have belief and professionalism and a good work ethic. We have great leadership and talent. We did our homework on these guys, but it means nothing without winning.”
The Islanders missed the playoffs by 14 points last season and are generally a media whipping post. Isles fans, what Mike and Mick feel are some of the most passionate fans in the league, can also be pretty brutal with their comments.
“Certainly that (losing) wasn’t in the plan. No one wants to hear excuses. If we get criticized, there’s generally some truth in it.” He doesn’t blame the fans for their comments and criticism. “We don’t deserve any better until we win. We’re teaching respect and honesty and we don’t deserve any better.”
When asked what the “Islander Way” is, Doug offered the radio team their best sound bite of the day:
“Islander way: We play fast. We want to play fast. We want to be fit. We want to be deep. We want to play in the other team’s end. WE want to be the hardest team to play against.”
Does he think they have a playoff team? “We’ve got a playoff team here and we’ve got 82 games to prove it.”
Sideboard: Here are some great tweets from Media Day, yesterday.
Rob Del Muro @gmen8069 2m
More from @NYIslanders fwd @mattymarts17 "There's no excuses anymore it's time 2make the playoffs it's time 2succeed the time is now" #isles
Rob Del Muro @gmen8069 7m
"This is the loudest arena I have ever played in, we r ready to do damage" @mattymarts17 #coliseumconnection #isles pic.twitter.com/Xobukme4T5
Rob Del Muro @gmen8069 42m
"I thought the roof was going 2 come off in the Pitt series & we would've had to move out of here by now" Hamonic #isles #coliseumconnection
Tom Murphy @HollywoodTM 45m
So now we got a Sutter and a Gillies in isles unis, now we just need Nystrom! haha #isles
Brett Cyrgalis @BrettCyrgalis 1h
Kyle Okposo: "It's not on Garth or Cappy, it's on us players. The time for the rebuild is over." #Isles
Brett Cyrgalis @BrettCyrgalis 39m
Hamonic: "I’m tired of going home and watching the playoffs on TV, man. I’m just real sick of it." #Isles
Mike Blazowski @MikeBlazowski 1m
Bailey has this season to make an impact or logically he'll be finding himself replaced by Lee #isles
New York Islanders @NYIslanders 17m
"I remember Eric Cairns & Steve Webb crushing everybody. Those were the first @NHL games I saw on TV in Denmark." - #Isles Frans Nielsen
Stephen @StephenCLorenzo 3m
Hamonic: "We all want better. I’m tired of going home and watching the playoffs on TV man, I’m just real sick of it." #Isles
Stephen @StephenCLorenzo 4m
For those of you that care, #Isles are already calling backup Chad Johnson "Johnny," which used to be reserved for JT
I'm sure he doesn't mean. He's old enough now to be just JOHN.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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