Breaking Down the Mammoth’s Trade for MacKenzie Weegar

by

The Utah Mammoth have made their first move of the 2026 Trade Deadline, and it’s a big one. No one saw the team going out and acquiring a defenseman, but that’s exactly what the Mammoth did on Wednesday. MacKenzie Weegar has been traded from the Calgary Flames and is the newest player in Utah.

On the flip side, the Mammoth are giving up Olli Määttä, Jonathan Castagna, and three 2026 second-round picks. It’s the first big buy that General Manager Bill Armstrong has made in his career. Here’s a complete breakdown of the trade.

Mackenzie Weegar Is a Nice Fit in Utah

The Mammoth’s blueline was looking solid. There was no need to improve it. However, when you have the chance to even further improve it, why not do it?

Weegar is a solid two-way defenseman. He can play in all three zones and does a great job moving the puck. Weegar has a nice slapshot, which he has used to get a majority of his recent goals. He does give up the puck here and there and is fourth in the NHL in giveaways this season. However, this was obviously on a bad Flames team.

Off the ice, Weegar is a supportive leader who has done a lot for the Flames. He was a key figure in helping push the new Scotia Place arena to the finish line. He was an alternate captain for the Flames and was a player seen as a potential choice for captain in the future. Weegar embraced the city and loved his time in Calgary.

Now, Weegar will get the opportunity to bring his great play and solid personality to Utah. He’ll immediately slide into the Mammoth’s top two defensive pairings. A potential pairing between him and Mikhail Sergachev could be a strong one. Both provide physicality and offense, and Sergachev can help clear up any defensive mistakes that Weegar makes. Either way, the top four should look something like Sergachev, Weegar, Nate Schmidt, and John Marino, with Sean Durzi sliding out.

The best part of this trade for the Mammoth is the fact that Weegar’s contract lasts until the end of the 2030-31 season. He is in the middle of year three of a eight year, $6.25 million annual average value (AAV) deal that also has a no-trade clause attached to it, which he waived to come to Utah. That gets turned into a modified no-trade clause with a 10-team no-trade list after next season.

As a Canadian, Weegar will need a work visa in order to play with the Mammoth. That means he won’t play in the Mammoth’s next game on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers. However, he’ll probably make his Mammoth debut sometime later on the road trip.

Related: Breaking Down the Mammoth’s Top Storylines Heading Into Trade Deadline

Weegar has played nine seasons for the Florida Panthers and the Flames. He has played for Team Canada multiple times in the World Championship. Additionally, he’s one of nine defensemen in the NHL since his first game in the league to record 1,000 blocked shots and 1,000 hits. This season, he has 21 points in 60 games.

Weegar is an excellent piece for a Mammoth team vying for a playoff spot. He’s a great two-way defenseman with excellent leadership capabilities and puck-moving skills. The defenseman has some playoff experience too, playing in 10 postseason games. Overall, it’s a nice addition for a young Mammoth team in the midst of a battle for a wild-card spot.

“MacKenzie is a high-end defenseman with the type of leadership and work ethic that we want in a top-four blueliner,” Armstrong said. “Acquiring MacKenzie solidifies our back end as we continue to push towards the playoffs, and he will be a great addition to our team on and off the ice.”

A Nice Trade for Bill Armstrong

The other side of this trade is, of course, what did the Mammoth have to give up to get Weegar? Some fans were expecting Tij Iginla to be included, expecting the Flames to push hard to acquire the son of franchise legend Jarome Iginla. However, that was quickly shut down early on.

The entire package ended up being Olli Määttä, Jonathan Castagna, and three 2026 second-round picks. There was no salary retention for Weegar or Määttä.

Let’s start with Määttä. The Finnish defenseman was acquired by the Mammoth from the Detroit Red Wings in the middle of last season after the team suffered injuries to both Marino and Durzi. After coming over, Määttä quickly became the Mammoth’s best defensive defenseman, deployed in a shut-down role and producing 18 points in 70 games.

Määttä earned a three-year extension with a $3.5 million AAV. However, this season, due to injuries, he was surpassed in the depth chart by players like Nick DeSimone and ended up being a healthy scratch most nights. A solid run with Finland in the Olympics that ended with a bronze medal earned some games down the stretch with the Mammoth, but it was clear that Määttä’s time was running out.

The Flames will be Määttä’s sixth team in his career. In the course of 13 NHL seasons, Määttä has won two Stanley Cups.

Castagna was drafted 70th overall by the Arizona Coyotes in 2023 and currently plays for Cornell University. The forward had a great first NCAA season, recording 25 points in 35 games. However, his sophomore season disappointed many as his production slipped to 15 points in 32 games.

This season has been a great bounce-back season for Castagna as he put up 32 points in 29 games, putting his name on the radar of many general managers. Castagna’s biggest weapon is his speed, which he uses constantly to avoid hits and stick checks from opponents. His hands are pretty solid, too, which allows him to cut between defenses. 

Cornell is heading to the ECAC hockey championship tournament, which means Castagna’s college career will last a little bit longer. However, he’ll more than likely sign his NHL entry-level deal after Cornell’s season ends and play in the American Hockey League (AHL).

As mentioned, the three second-round picks are all 2026 draft picks. One of them was the Mammoth’s pick (obviously), but the other two came from the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators via trades.

The Rangers’ pick came from the Patrik Nemeth trade, which saw the Coyotes get Nemeth and two second-round picks for Ty Emberson. The other second-round pick went to the Colorado Avalanche for the first-round pick the Mammoth used to select Cole Beaudoin.

The Senators’ pick came from the Jakob Chychrun trade. That trade saw the Senators get Chychrun in exchange for a first-round pick that ended up being Daniil But, the second round pick, and another second-round pick that was used in the Marino trade. All in all, two massive trades before this one ended up landing four big pieces of the Mammoth, including Weegar.

The fact that Armstrong managed to acquire Weegar without giving up a first-round pick is the big headline here. That means if the Mammoth wanted to make another big move before the deadline on Friday, they can use their 2026 first-rounder or their two 2026 third-round picks (the Mammoth own the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2026 third-round pick).

MacKenzie Weegar Calgary Flames
MacKenzie Weegar, Calgary Flames (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Armstrong also didn’t give up a big-name prospect like Dmitri Simashev, Maveric Lamoureux, and Caleb Desnoyers, or anyone who plays on the Tucson Roadrunners, helping their playoff hopes stay alive. It’s quite impressive what Armstrong kept, which will help the Mammoth continue to crank out young top players while competing for a playoff spot each season.

This trade can be seen as another stepping stone for the Mammoth. While they finally went out and traded for a big-name player at the deadline for the first time in Armstrong’s tenure as a general manager, they didn’t mortgage their future by doing so and didn’t acquire a rental either. Instead, they get a top-four defenseman who will help them for the foreseeable future.

This trade truly signifies the start of the Mammoth’s window of being a playoff contender. While there’s still work to be done this season and in the future, the acquisition of Weegar is a reward for the great play by the team this season so far, and another big piece added to the team for the playoff push.

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE TO OUR UTAH MAMMOTH SUBSTACK NEWSLETTER