‘Big wake-up call’ got Flames’ Weegar working on his game – TSN.ca

Seven years ago, MacKenzie Weegar thought he would rather spend his future working on a construction site than playing hockey in an arena.

The 2013 seventh-round draft pick, then a potential Florida Panthers player, had just been demoted from the American Hockey League to the East Coast Hockey League. Weegar had to mature on and off the ice and he was told that by the top team.

“I thought the world was ending and I cried,” he said, recalling that moment during the 2014-15 season in Adirondack, NY when he was in his early 20s and saying he was going to the ECHL.

“[Dale Tallon, then the Panthers general manager] had a few choice words for me that I’ll never forget…he basically said, “You’re easily replaceable. You haven’t done anything important to keep yourself close. You need to wake up.” I guess that’s how he put it nicely.”

By his own account, Weegar didn’t even know how to do his own laundry back then.

“That was a big wake-up call that I needed,” said Weegar, now 28. “He pushed all the right buttons.”

Tallon wasn’t the first hockey decision-maker to read the riot act to Weegar. A rookie in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Weegar was a key part of the 2013 Memorial Cup-winning Halifax Mooseheads roster and anchored the second power-play unit on a team that included future NHL stars Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin.

“You could see great potential, but at the same time he had a lot to learn, on and off the ice,” said Dominique Ducharme, then the Mooseheads head coach.

“You could see really good vision, good balance with the puck and competitiveness. He’s a competitive guy. The bigger the moment, the better it was. He had to mature as a young man and hockey player and slowly he did that.”

To train his young blueliner, Ducharme gave him a nickname.

“Sometimes I called him ‘Joe Cool’ because he got a little smug, so I had to get his attention and put him to work,” Ducharme said.

“He understood that it was important to me [for] all of our players, including him…I wanted to take them to another level and prepare them to be professionals.”

Ducharme’s methods worked, and the Panthers picked Weegar with one of the last picks (206th overall) of the 2013 NHL draft. Weegar’s family thought the Boston Bruins would call him up, but Paul Gallagher, then a scout for the Panthers, begged Tallon to to exchange

“We didn’t have a choice for the seventh round,” Gallagher said.

“I’m trying to get my GM’s attention. Something is being talked about [at the Panthers’ draft table], so I ended up banging my hands on the table. I said, ‘Dale…you gotta get me a pick…I want that Weegar boy from Halifax.'”

In teenage Weegar, Gallagher saw a right-handed blueliner who had offensive instincts, could babble a power play and wasn’t afraid to skate the puck.

“Once the opening was there, he wasn’t afraid to take it,” Gallagher said.

“You could just see him gaining more confidence with every game.”

It took some time, but Weegar finally agreed with Tallon, Gallagher and Ducharme.

He made his NHL debut with Florida in 2017 and has since risen to the top of his game.

For the past two seasons, Weegar has ranked fifth among all NHL defensemen in equal-strength points and third in equal-strength goals on the ice. The Ottawa native is one of the league’s best at denying zone entries and breaking up passes in the defensive zone, and has just signed an eight-year, $50 million contract extension that sees him through the 2030-31 season in Calgary will hold.

Early in his tenure in southern Alberta, Flames head coach Darryl Sutter praised Weegar’s coaching ability and willingness to be a student of the game, a testament to how he’s grown over the years.

“I think, to be honest, a lot of it had to come from within,” Weegar said of his maturation.

“You could have a bunch of people helping you … they all say the right things, but ultimately it comes down to you, myself, and getting in shape and having extra time on the ice and working on things that you’re working on need to keep improving. I did that stuff.”

“As soon as he figured it out,” Gallagher said, “he figured it out.”

SPARKS FROM THE FIRE

-Weegar emphasized how much influence Aaron Ekblad had throughout his career. The two played together in Florida for years and last season were one of the best defensive pairings in the league.

“It was weird saying Ekblad because he’s younger than me, but he was a huge influence on me,” said Weegar, who’s also a big Call of Duty guy.

“For his age, he is super mature. He’s almost my older brother but he’s younger than me.” I have to give him so much credit for where I came from because he taught me a lot. He taught me to have good habits and really work on my game, on and off the rink.”

-Weegar: “The way we treat you [media], for me it’s awesome. The hype surrounding the Canadian media is huge. You guys are great… we’ll be here for a long time and I’ll get to know you a lot better. it’s just more fun.”