The Calgary Flames were not expected to be sending a lot of players to the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off that will be taking place in February. Going into the season it was expected that Rasmus Andersson would compete for a spot for Team Sweden, and as expected he made the team. He will be the lone Flame heading to the tournament.
However, through the first 26 games of the season, a few Flames made some noise in regards to potentially making the team, those being MacKenzie Weegar and Mikael Backlund. There was some smoke around them, but they unfortunately were not invited.
MacKenzie Weegar should have made Team Canada
I am incredibly biased when talking about Weegar in any capacity, but when it comes to this topic, I don’t think I am the only one who thought Weegar should have grabbed a spot on the Canadian roster.
I have talked about Weegar at lengths so many times, so I will do my best to keep this short and sweet, but Weegar has been so good for at least the last four seasons, even going back to his time as a Florida Panther. He has been the Flames’ top defenceman since arriving in Calgary and he has lived up to all the expectations put on him.
When it has come to the defensive side of the game, he has been rock solid, offensively, he has been trusted in every situation and has produced. He has been a leader for the team and has come into his own the last couple of seasons while having a revolving door of partners over the years. He has been everything we have expected him to be and so much more.
When it comes to Team Canada, I absolutely feel like there are at least two players Weegar should have had a spot over in the lineup. Colton Parayko only made the team because his GM in St. Louis happens to be the GM for Team Canada—there is a little bit of bias there if you ask me. Travis Sanheim also made the team, he has had a nice year so far for the Flyers, but again, Weegar does everything Sanheim can do much better.
Weegar legitimately could have been in the Canadian’s top-six on the blue line and probably could have made an impact on a higher level than Parayko and Sanheim. After the hype, Weegar was getting through the first couple of months of the season, plus the versatility he brings to the lineup, I thought he was all but a lock for the roster. I guess it was not meant to be.
Mikael Backlund was left off Sweden’s roster
This one was not really a shocker to me. I thought there was an outside chance that Backlund would get the call to play for the Swedes and be a veteran defensive presence and a leader in the locker room.
Backlund has been a part of many teams for Sweden, he was on the roster in 2016 at the World Cup of Hockey and he was the captain for the Swedes in 2018 at the World Championships which won gold that year. While it has been a while since Backlund played for Sweden at an international competition, I thought Backlund could have brought a better skillset to the bottom-six of Sweden’s roster than say Gustav Nyqvist, Elias Lindholm, or Viktor Arvidsson.
Now, I am not totally upset about this, I did not expect Backlund to get the nod for the team, but it sure would have been nice to see him go.
Motivation for the rest of the season
Being left off the national team cannot be easy for most guys, but I bet this will serve as motivation for both Weegar and Backlund moving forward this season.
I won’t go totally off my rockers and say Backlund was snubbed, but I totally believe that Weegar should have been there. At the end of the day, it is what it is, but I know that this will make both of these players stronger moving forward from here on out.
