Not sure who saw this coming, but Craig Conroy pulled the trigger on a blockbuster with the Utah Mammoth. The details:
Calgary
Olli Matta
Jonathan Castagna
3 – 2nd Round picks in 2026
Utah
Mackenzie Weegar
The deal essentially moves 5 years of Weegar’s contract to Utah for another 7th spot defenceman, a future AHL C (if he signs), and three lottery tickets.
The unknowns are all of the draft capital Conroy is accumulating. The trouble with picks, however, is that you need to draft well to turn them into bonafide NHLers of any caliber. That’s a big ‘what if’.
Fans are surprised that one of the ‘glue guys’ in the room was sent packing, one of the last elements of the crippling end of Brad Treliving.
Weegar has had a terrible season going from potential Olympic team roster to a -35! player on the Flames. He can eat minutes, but his offensive skills were overblown with the 20 goal season he is unlikely to ever repeat.
The Flames aren’t great on D, and Weegar has been terrible this year. Selling high on an aging RW D man on a team that’s tanking, that makes sense. Doing so with 5 years left on the contract? That’s unexpected. Selling Weegar right after Andersson? Also unexpected.
Flames are losing character guys in the room but have now embraced the full rebuild. There’s no more dance around the ‘R’ word in Cowtown. The Flames are #teamtank.
The move also opens up space on the right side for Bru and Parekh, arguably the future of this team on D.
But time will tell who ‘wins’ this trade. 2nd round picks in a deep draft? You only need one homerun to make it worthwhile.