A tale as old as time: MacKenzie Weegar is playing phenomenal hockey for the Calgary Flames. He has been the backbone of the team’s depleted defence group all year long and is carrying the load as the team continues its push for an unexpected birth to the playoffs.
Weegar had his best season to date a year ago, but you can make the argument that he has been as good or perhaps better this season when you take into account how he has been deployed and who he has been playing with.
This season, Weegar has fully committed himself to the city and to the Flames. This may be a huge reason he is playing as well as he has been. There can be an argument made that he has been the team’s best skater this season.
Evaluating Weegar’s season so far
The season is coming to a close pretty quickly. The Flames have just 18 games remaining on the schedule, and since the season kicked off way back in October, Weegar’s game has been at its best. His counting stats going back to a season ago are a tad worse than he finished with.
There is an obvious dip in the goal department as Weegar has just seven so far; he finished with 20 last year. However, he is on pace for 49 points, which would be just three points off of what he achieved last year. I think we can all agree that we did not expect him to reach the 20-goal mark again, but from a production standpoint, he is on pace for the second-best year of his career. Not too shabby.
Where the most strides have been made when comparing this season to last is defensively. Weegar has always been a rock defensively, especially going back to his first year in Calgary. Last season, his defensive metrics dropped off a little bit as he pushed for more offence. This season, he has been one of the best defenders in all of hockey.
MacKenzie Weegar has been a legit No. one defenceman for a few years already. An underrated player in my opinion. https://t.co/tE3z5xPIH4 pic.twitter.com/pidOVXs3SF
— Rono (@RonoAnalyst) March 4, 2025
His defensive underlying metrics have been nothing short of elite. While I am not the biggest fan of using plus/minus as a stat to evaluate a player, Weegar is a team-leading +12 on the year with a team that has a -18 goal differential on the year. He has been killing it on both sides of the ice as the team’s undisputed number one defenceman. He has been doing it all this year for the Flames, and quite frankly, he could even be used more.
Who Weegar has been utilized with
This part is what has impressed me the most with how well Weegar has played this season. Last year and the year prior, Weegar always had a very good partner to team up with. Over the past two seasons, Weegar was regularly paired with Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, or Nikita Zadorov. This year, his main two partners have been Joel Hanley and Daniil Miromanov.
No disrespect to Hanley or Miromanov, but those two are a far cry from the other four guys that Weegar has had the chance to team up with. Hanley was barely playing to start the season and was a waiver claim for the club last year. Miromanov is barely an NHL talent at this point after being acquired for the aforementioned Hanifin from the Vegas Golden Knights a year ago.
Even with the flip-flopping of partners, the talent level of the team decreasing, and having to play both his strong side and weak side, Weegar is playing arguably the best hockey of his career.
When playing with Hanley this season—in which they have logged over 330 minutes together, according to MoneyPuck.com—they have an xGoals percentage of 56.8 and an xGoals against per 60 minutes of 1.71. Those rank 25th and 5th overall league-wide. Those are elite numbers to post with a player who has barely been an NHL regular for the entirety of his career. It sums up perfectly how dominant Weegar has been when he has been on the ice this season. Imagine if he was playing with a partner who was more talented (Zayne Parekh says hello for next season)?
He has been one of the best defencemen in the league this season, period.
The vibes are still immaculate, baby
If it has not been clear for the two years that I have been writing for The Win Column, I have always been extremely high on Weegar. That goes back to his days with the Florida Panthers and when he was traded to Calgary three years ago.
Since becoming a Flame, he has taken his game to new heights and has smashed any expectations that I think anyone could have possibly had after being acquired. Sure, in hindsight, the trade that sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers doesn’t look great, but Weegar has more than held up his side of the bargain and then some.
I am super excited to see him play live Monday night and I am super stoked to see his game elevate as the chase for the playoffs continues. If the Flames get into the dance, I can guarantee that Weegar is going to be a huge part of any success they might have.
