MacKenzie Weegar’s stop in Ottawa was brief, but it came with a little bit of what-ifs attached.
The Utah Mammoth defenceman was back in his hometown on Friday night, sharing dinner with his family at his parents’ place in Barrhaven before his club faced the Senators on Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre and then headed back to Salt Lake City late that night. It was a short homecoming, but one that naturally stirred up the possibility of a different hockey path.
There was a point last season when Ottawa might have been the destination.
The Senators and Flames had several conversations between Steve Staios, Ottawa’s president of hockey operations and general manager, and Calgary GM Craig Conroy, but the pieces never lined up. Ottawa didn’t have the assets to complete the deal, and Weegar ended up going to Utah instead when he waived his full no-move clause on March 4, just days before the NHL trade deadline. Calgary received defenceman Olli Maatta, prospect forward Jonathan Castagna and three draft picks in the swap.
Weegar said he had heard the chatter that he could land with the Senators, but Ottawa was never actually presented to him by the Flames.
“I always give thought to Ottawa,” Weegar told the Ottawa Citizen following the Mammoth’s morning skate on Saturday. “It’s obviously home, but there wasn’t any trade talks that came in front of me with (Conroy) about that, so I didn’t have any options really with that.
For Weegar, the move to Utah has turned out to be a comfortable one. He’s on a contract that pays him $6.25 million U.S. per season through 2030-31, and he’s settled in as a top-four defenceman for a team that believes it’s ready to take another step.
“It’s been great. It’s been an easy change, honestly. I think at first, when I first got traded last year, you’re just trying to get yourself comfortable and get relationships,” Weegar said.
“You’re growing as fast as you can, just to make it feel a little bit more like home. But I think this year I feel a lot more like myself and having a lot more fun this year.
And just knowing everybody at training camp, and familiar faces coming in at training camp, always helps me a lot. I’ve been having a blast with Utah.”
Before the game, Weegar was sitting No. 2 in the NHL in blocked shots with 47 and No. 14 in hits with 55 this season, a snapshot of the kind of player he’s become: physical, reliable and willing to pay the price.
That’s exactly why Ottawa had interest in him. The Senators saw a defenceman who would fit their needs, even if the trade never got close enough to happen.
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