Stan Weir never turned into the kind of scorer the California Golden Seals hoped he’d be when they plucked the Ponoka boy from the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft. Not sure if the white skates the Seals made him wear had anything to do with that, but it didn’t help.
What Weir did turn into a half-dozen years or so into his NHL career, a stretch that saw him play for the Golden Seals and then the Toronto Maple Leafs with nary a flash of the point producing prowess he showed in junior, was a mentor and a leader with a young group of Edmonton Oilers making the transition from the WHA to the NHL.
Stan Weir
Center — shoots L
Born Mar 17 1952 — Ponoka, ALTA
Height 6.01 — Weight 170 [185 cm/77 kg]
Drafted by California Golden Seals
Round 2 #28 overall 1972 NHL Amateur Draft
BY THE NUMBERS
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | Playoff GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972-73 | California Golden Seals | NHL | 78 | 15 | 24 | 39 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1973-74 | California Golden Seals | NHL | 58 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1974-75 | California Seals | NHL | 80 | 18 | 27 | 45 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1975-76 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 64 | 19 | 32 | 51 | 22 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| 1976-77 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 65 | 11 | 19 | 30 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1977-78 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 30 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 1977-78 | Tulsa Oilers | CHL | 42 | 24 | 33 | 57 | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1978-79 | Edmonton Oilers | WHA | 68 | 31 | 30 | 61 | 20 | 24 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| 1979-80 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 79 | 33 | 33 | 66 | 40 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1980-81 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 70 | 12 | 20 | 32 | 40 | -7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1981-82 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 51 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1981-82 | Colorado Rockies | NHL | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -7 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1982-83 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 57 | 5 | 24 | 29 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1983-84 | Montana Magic | CHL | 73 | 21 | 44 | 65 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1984-85 | Milwaukee Admirals | IHL | 26 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| WHA Totals | 68 | 31 | 30 | 61 | 20 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | |||
| NHL Totals | 642 | 139 | 207 | 346 | 183 | 37 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 4 |
NOTABLE
Weir had back-to-back seasons of 111 and 133 points with Medicine Hat, but never managed to come close to replicating that with California or Toronto, so rather than slip down the depth charts further or find himself stuck in the minors, Weir jumped to the Oilers as a free agent in time for their final WHA season, 1978-79.
When the Oilers joined the NHL for the 1979-80 season, Weir went with them. At 28, he was one of a handful of veterans, along with the likes of captain Al Hamilton, Bill Flett and Colin Campbell, in the mix with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Kevin Lowe, rising youngsters still in their teens or just bumping their early-20s.
Weir proved to be much more than just a babysitter and somebody to make sure the kids made curfew in that first NHL season. He has the best season of his NHL career, 33 goals and 66 points, leaving him behind only Gretzky (137 points) and Blair McDonald (94 points) in team scoring.
THE STORY
That 1979-80 season would prove to be a one-time bump in production for Weir, who’d have to find other ways to stick around as the Oilers improved and added depth. He did. He was a solid face-off man and penalty-killer during the rest of his tenure in Edmonton, playing deeper in the line-up.
Weir would spend 200 games as an Oiler, scoring 48-66-114, but was long gone – he was traded to Colorado in March of 1982 – and out of the NHL completely and playing with the Montana Magic of the Central Hockey League by the time the Oilers won their first Stanley Cup in 1984.
While Weir never got his name engraved on the Cup, he most certainly played a role in shaping the careers of many who did as members of the Oilers, as Gretzky and Messier are always quick to mention when you ask them about those early days in the Big League.
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.
Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TSN 1260.
PREVIOUSLY:
- 75. Mark Napier
- 76. Andrei Kovalenko
- 77. Brett Callighen
- 78. Jimmy Carson
- 79. Raffi Torres
- 80. Mike York
- 81. Andrew Cogliano
- 82. Mariusz Czerkawski
- 83. Eric Brewer
- 84. Tom Poti
- 85. Radek Dvorak
- 86. Igor Kravchuk
- 87. Lubomir Visnovsky
I’m the Oilers fan that I am today because of Stan Weir. As a Ponoka boy he was friends with my parents. I got a dressing room visit as well as a couple of signed sticks (one I carried around the room as a 7 year old boy while the 1982 Oilers signed it). There were a couple other cool memories as well. After seeing and meeting those guys, I’ve bled blue ever since.
Thanks for these articles Robin. And The Nation
Stan Weir’s beard once scored a hat trick.
Stan must’ve ran out of his trusty Sherwood PMP sticks having to use some of Gret’z white Titans. Maybe he wanted to break out of a small scoring slump.
The Titan 2020…….a legend.
True that. Almost 3000 pts and never seen him break one of those TPM 2020s.
When they broke on me most times it was the blade in half. Indestructible.
Only #74? With a beard and salad like that? C’mon Brownlee.
little known fact: Weir was instrumental in the 2006 cup run as well. When Lowetide would post pics of Weir (among many former Oilers) on his blog, the Oilers would win. Stan became a talisman, with a record of 12-4 when his pic was posted (hmmm, perhaps this entry should have been posted before last night’s game?) Lowetide came to see Weir as having Jedi skills, from Lowetide, back in 2006:
* Stan Weir can slam a revolving door.
* Stan Weir uses a night-light. Not because he’s afraid of the dark, but because darkness fears Stan Weir.
* Stan Weir sleeps with a pillow under his gun.
* Stan Weir caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. Breakaway countries, in his honour, call themselves KazakhSTAN, UzbekiSTAN, etc. In the same region, thousands of children born out of wedlock in 1989 were named Stanislav. (Meaning: Half-slavic son of Stan).
* Stan Weir can blow bubbles with beef jerky.
* Stan Weir is NOT susceptible to Kryptonite.
* Gretzky went where the puck was going. Weir made the puck come to him.
* Stan Weir understands the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
He also had a starring role in a bizarre penalty shot against the Leafs, complete with 3 mice thrown on the ice in criticism of the officiating (not a new thing) . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k26ovT7UhU
Every time I see another top 100 story I think oh god another irrelevant article, but the series is actually really interesting. Mr. Brownlee should turn this series into a book and market debut it at Christmas. Cash money. What would be really interesting would be to see a docu-series interviewing some of these diamonds in the rough on a sportsnet channel during the Christmas break. We’ve all seen the Gretzky interviews but hearing some of these stories straight from the horses mouth would be pure gold. Especially if you could juxtapose old video highlights with modern interview footage or voiceover would be really cool.
These types of items don’t appeal to everybody, but I like the idea — it wasn’t mine — now that we’re into it a little bit. It’s fun looking up information on the guys who were ahead of my time here, like Weir.
This series gives the website a nice, little archive of thumbnails — a quick look rather than full-blown profiles — on the some of the players who’ve played a significant part in the history of the franchise.
It’s pretty cool because who would have ever thought of a Stan Weir type player, a book would be really cool for the coffee table of the hard core Oilers fan. I would keep it on the book shelf and use it as a quick reference to try and sound smart on an ON thread comment lol.