Calgary Flames defenseman Mackenzie Weegar has signed an 8-year, $50 million contract extension with the team.
Weegar was part of a July 25 trade with the Panthers that sent Matthew Tkachuk to Florida and brought Jonathan Huberdeau and Weegar to Calgary.
The 28-year-old defenseman is in the final season of a three-year contract he signed with the Panthers on Nov. 6, 2020, and could have become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Weegar, six feet and 206 pounds, had eight goals and 36 assists in 80 games last season.
“This is going to be fun,” Weeger said of the upcoming season with the Flames. “It’s going to be a long road, it’s obviously a lot of hard work and the hard work starts now. One of the reasons I signed here is because I believe in this team … we have a winning team, a winning coach and a winning culture here.”
He adds: “The winning culture. … Lots of guys who have won here, and that’s important. We need that down the stretch. They want to win now. I want to win now. I think everybody in this room wants to win here. The city wants to win. Passionate fanbase.”
“It means everything,” Weegar added. “When I signed the deal, I just kept thinking of how long of a road it’s been for me since Junior B to the [ECHL] and now to here. All my friends and family and all the support I think, it’s not just me that signed the deal. It’s everybody around me.
“We believe he’s a top-pairing defenseman,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said of Weegar after the trade.
“To me, he’s just really just at the prime of his career. Is a right-shot defenseman. … We think this guy makes our team a lot better today. … We look at him as a top-end defensemen, one of the top defensemen in the League, quite frankly.”
