With Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers rolling in to town on Monday to face the Calgary Flames, everyone will be reminded about the blockbuster trade that went down in the summer of 2022. While Tkachuk has had a quiet start to his season (to his standards) and Jonathan Huberdeau still struggling to find his way in Calgary, the other NHL player that was involved in that trade, MacKenzie Weegar, has had a stellar start to his season and that continued Saturday night when the Flames hosted the Lightning.
Weegar scored once again and has tied his career high in goals, just 31 games into this season. It has been a year of struggles for most Flames, but today I wanted to go over the year Weegar has had thus far, and why he has been one of the most slept-on defecsemen this season.
Weegar is near the top of defencemen scoring
With the goal Weegar scored against the Lightning Saturday night, it was his eighth of the season, tying his career high in goals that he set during the 2021–22 season with the juggernaut Panthers. That puts Weegar on pace for 21 goals (and a 50-point pace) for the year—that would smash all of his career totals that he set with the Panthers, pretty good!
It was tough sledding for Weegar and his offensive start to his career in Calgary last season, he didn’t score his first goal as a Flame until New Years Eve, and only scored four in total on the entire year. Weegar was a rock defensively last season no doubt, but after inking an eight-year deal at $6.25 million before the season, it was a little disappointing to see such a low offensive output.
This season has been a completely different story though, his defensive game has been just as strong, but you can see that there is a new level of confidence that Weegar is showing offensively. He has not been afraid to jump up into the rush at all this year, and he is shooting the puck way more, resulting in more goals scored, obviously. We haven’t seen a Flames defenceman be on pace for the 20-goal mark since Mark Giordano in the 2018–19 season and Dougie Hamilton in the 2017–18 season.
Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks is leading all defencemen with nine goals this season, but who is right on his tail? You guessed it, Weegar. He is tied for second among all defencemen in goals scored with Colorado’s Cale Makar and Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard. That is some pretty good company to be in, considering the others are known for their offensive game, while Weegar has been more known for his defensive side of the game. When I heard that stat Saturday night, I was blown away, but that is just how good Weegar has been this season.
The vibes have been immaculate
You can think what you want about the trade that brought Weegar to the Flames, sure they probably got robbed when you look at Huberdeau’s production and what Tkachuk has been able to bring for the Panthers, but Weegar has more than held up his own side of the bargain so far, and I would much rather him be a Flame than not.
I am not saying Weegar is going to get Norris votes by year’s end (if he keeps this up he probably should) or that he is going to score 30 goals. Still, he has been unbelievable to watch this season on both sides of the puck, and with the Flames probably gearing up to begin selling assets in just a matter of months, Weegar’s importance to the backend is going to increase and more opportunities are going to come. At least for Weegar, the vibes have been immaculate.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
