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Calgary Flames make surprise trade involving MacKenzie Weegar

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
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Mar 4 2026, 10:00 pm
Calgary Flames make surprise trade involving MacKenzie Weegar
Sergei Belski/Imagn Images

The Calgary Flames have traded yet another prominent defender.

It had been reported late this afternoon that the Flames agreed to send MacKenzie Weegar to the Utah Mammoth. The issue, however, was that the 31-year-old, who is under contract through the 2030-31 season, has a full no-trade clause.

After taking a few hours to digest things, Weegar has agreed to waive his no-trade clause in order to join the Mammoth. It’s a blockbuster of sorts, as the Flames will be receiving five pieces for the right-shot blueliner.

One piece is defenceman Olli Maatta, who has struggled to get into the Mammoth’s lineup this season. In the first year of a three-year deal ($3.5 million AAV), Maatta is far from a long-term solution for the Flames. Instead, this appears to be GM Craig Conroy taking advantage of his seemingly infinite cap space.

The Flames will also be receiving three 2026 second-round picks in the deal, along with forward prospect Jonathan Castagna. The 20-year-old centre has 14 goals and 32 points in 29 games as a junior with Cornell University.

Though there had been some whispers surrounding Weegar in recent weeks, the fact that he has so much term remaining on his contract made a trade feel like a long shot. Nonetheless, Conroy was able to find a trading partner to move on from what was his current number-one defenceman.

Despite serving as the Flames’ top defenceman, however, he has struggled immensely as of late.

After recording north of 45 points in each of the prior two seasons, Weegar has just three goals and 21 points through 60 games. Even more concerning is his league-worst plus-minus (-35).

What makes this trade all the more fascinating is that the Flames already moved out one of their top right-shot defencemen in Rasmus Andersson in mid-January. They brought Zach Whitecloud back in that deal, but not having both Andersson and Weegar further depletes what was already a weak back end.

This move will be a tough one for many to swallow, as Weegar’s play and personality made him a fan favourite in Calgary. That said, this appears to be a very solid move by Conroy as he looks to keep improving the long-term outlook of this organization.

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