Its official, the Utah Mammoth are not staying dormant this trade deadline.
Ahead of the trade deadline this Friday, March 6, the Mammoth have acquired defenseman MacKenzie Weegar from the Calgary Flames.
Weegar, 32, has registered 21 points this season and has been healthy this season, playing 60 games for Calgary this season while averaging 23:07 of ice time per game.
And Utah will benefit greatly from the Weegar's physicality as he has the ninth most hits (130) and the second most blocked shots (143) amongst NHL defensemen this season.
"MacKenzie is a high-end defenseman with the type of leadership and work ethic that we want in a top-four blueliner," said Bill Armstrong, general manager of the Utah Mammoth. "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."
The price for Weegar wasn't bad either, with Utah only having to give up one player on its current roster in defenseman Olli Määttä without giving up any first round draft capital.
Plus, two of the second round picks Utah traded come from other teams, one from the Ottawa Senators and the other from the New York Rangers. Utah flipping some assets it already acquired to shore up its blue line is a smart idea.
This trade also shows also acts as a form of recommitment from the Mammoth front office.
Towards the end of last season, Utah extended Määttä to a 3 year deal to keep a core group of defenseman over its next couple of season. When Utah added Nate Schmidt to the team, it now had four defenseman signed through 2028, including Määttä .
With Määttä only appearing in 22 games and frequently listed as a healthy scratch, the contract Utah gave Määttä suddenly didn't look as good as it did last season. Rather than wait for Määttä to turn it around his season, Utah opted for an improvement.
But with Utah trading Määttä in for Weegar, Utah commits to a bigger and more expensive contract with Weegar as he is signed til the 2029-2030 season and making 6.5 million annually.
But considering Määttä's contract, Utah really only committed to adding 3 million to its cap space. So in the end, getting an upgrade at the defenseman position didn't feel like much of cost.
Utah may have made this trade so that it can win now as it fights for a playoff spot, but it has the chance to win in the long run with this trade.