By Ap/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis Blues have signed free agent center Doug Weight to a mult-year contract.
The move comes just six months after the team traded him to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurrianes.
Weight was part of the Blues' payroll purge that helped facilitate the team's sale. With John Davidson now in place as club president, Weight returned to the team with whom he spent most of the past four seasons.
"We are bringing back a player that loves the city of St. Louis and the Blues organization," Davidson said in a statement. "He's a Stanley Cup winner and will be a key part of this team moving forward."
Weight, 35, is a four-time All-Star and has played in 982 career NHL games, with 885 points and 809 penalty minutes. He played with St. Louis from 2001 until this January when he was sent to the Hurricanes for draft picks.
He had three goals and 13 assists in the first 23 games of Carolina's run to the title but missed the final two contests in the Stanley Cup finals after he separated his right shoulder in Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers.
KITCHEN RE-SIGNED
Davidson also announced Sunday that coach Mike Kitchen will be back behind the bench for his second full season with the Blues.
"His work last season during a difficult time proved his strengths and abilities as a head coach in the National Hockey League," said Davidson, who gave Kitchen a multiyear deal. "We believe he is the perfect fit to coach our team."
Kitchen took over as coach in February 2004, replacing the fired Joel Quenneville, and guided the Blues to a 10-7-4 mark and their 25th consecutive playoff appearance. That streak ended this season when St. Louis went 21-46-15 and finished with an NHL-low 57 points.
HINOTE SIGNING
The team also has signed free agent right winger Dan Hinote from Colorado.
The 6-0, 190-pound forward appeared in all 23 postseason games for the Avalanche in 2000-01 and helped capture the Stanley Cup.