Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\nIt\u2019s been more than a week since Weegar was thrust into the hockey world\u2019s spotlight, forced to make a decision that was about much more than just hockey. A move that would alter the course of everything they\u2019d built in Calgary.<\/p>\n
It reminds us all, the hardest decisions in hockey aren\u2019t made in boardrooms or dressing rooms. They\u2019re made at kitchen tables, when a player and his partner stare at one another and try to answer a question that can change the course of their lives.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where Weegar unexpectedly found himself last Wednesday.<\/p>\n
One minute he was in the Flames dressing room after practice. The next, equipment manager Mark DePasquale was pulling him aside.<\/p>\n
\u201c’Depo’ told me they wanted to see me upstairs,\u201d said Weegar, who’d heard the rumours he could be traded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking up, I just remember looking at him and telling him, \u2018My heart\u2019s racing right now.\u2019 And ‘Depo’ looks back and goes, \u2018Mine too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside Craig Conroy\u2019s office, the message from the GM was simple and stunning: Utah had made a massive offer. Five pieces. A haul that signaled a new direction for Calgary, and demonstrated how badly the Mammoth wanted and valued the veteran defenceman.<\/p>\n
All he had to do was waive his no\u2011trade clause.<\/p>\n
He walked out of the office in a fog.<\/p>\n
He stepped into the training room, looked around at the guys, and felt his heart drop.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just kind of sitting there, like, \u2018This could be the last time walking into the locker room,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He left quickly, afraid that if he lingered, he\u2019d start telling people what had just happened.<\/p>\n
Then came the drive home. The call to his wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe thought I was pranking her again,\u201d he said. \u201cI pranked her the day before, so she didn\u2019t believe me at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
They were now on the clock, tasked with wading through the positives and negatives of deciding whether to uproot their lives.<\/p>\n
For a man who committed eight years to Calgary, who bought into the city, the community, the new arena he helped champion, the idea of even considering a move felt almost cruel.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t just sign a contract here. He built a life. He became a face of the franchise.\u00a0It\u2019s where he toured the new rink and imagined himself leading the Flames onto that ice in 18 months.<\/p>\n
He became the guy many believed should wear the \u201cC\u201d next.<\/p>\n
Utah was a blank page. A new market. A new fan base. A new organization still figuring out what it wants to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a 32\u2011year\u2011old with five years left on his deal, that\u2019s not a decision you make quickly.<\/p>\n
And if there wasn\u2019t already enough pressure involved, word of the pending trade leaked out hours later by Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman, intensifying the angst, the dread, the fears, the sadness and the shock.<\/p>\n
The hockey world awaited his decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you go into a situation like that, and the team asks you to leave, it\u2019s a weird feeling,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like they don\u2019t want you anymore. And then a team wants you really bad. You\u2019re weighing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Utah was in a playoff spot. They had a plan. They had an aggressive owner whose passion was clear when they spoke on the phone. They had a vision that matched Weegar\u2019s timeline.<\/p>\n
From noon until 5:30 p.m., the Weegars lived in a suspended reality.<\/p>\n
They sat in silence. They talked through scenarios. They called his parents, his sister, his agent. They spoke to Utah\u2019s ownership and management. Maggie spoke to other wives to understand what life there would look like.<\/p>\n
But, mostly, it was just the two of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept it really close,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cIt was my decision, and my family\u2019s decision. I didn\u2019t want to get influenced by anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hockey part came quickly. The emotional part didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest part about leaving was my teammates,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing a big part of the leadership role, big part of the community \u2014 that was really, really hard. That\u2019s what makes me the most emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n
He texted the team, wanting them to understand he wasn\u2019t jumping ship, tossing them to the curb. They understood.<\/p>\n
But that didn\u2019t make it easier.<\/p>\n
When he returned to the Saddledome two days later to gather his gear, he saw Mikael Backlund, the equipment staff, the people behind the scenes who make a team feel like home, including a security guard at the players\u2019 entrance named Richard who will never forget the hug he got from Weegar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was super emotional,\u201d said Weegar, of his last day at the Dome. \u201cIt was sad. Even when I think about it right now, it still hits me. It\u2019s still new. It\u2019s fresh. I absolutely loved it there. I was loyal. I wanted to bring a Cup there.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Calgary loved him back.<\/p>\n
That became painfully clear in the hours after the trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the Ring doorbell,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cWe could see kids coming up to the door Friday night while we were at dinner. They knew I\u2019d been traded, so they wanted to get some things signed. They left letters on my door saying, \u2018We\u2019re gonna miss you \u2014 thanks for everything.\u2019 Little things like that meant the world to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier that day, while walking his dogs in his Lakeview neighbourhood, two teenage girls sprinted around the corner wearing his jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took a selfie with me and said, \u2018All the best, good luck, we\u2019re gonna miss you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody in Calgary always treated me so well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s happy the Flames got a healthy return for him, and the fans got clarity a legit rebuild is afoot.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll return to Calgary on April 12. He knows that night will be emotional. He knows the letters from kids, the selfies with teens, the quiet moments with teammates will all come rushing back.<\/p>\n
But he also knows he made the right decision for his career and his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was weird. It was emotional. It still is,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m happy with how it ended. I left on good terms. And Calgary will always have a big part of me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014\u00a0He held it together right up until he heard Hubie\u2019s voice. That\u2019s the moment MacKenzie Weegar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-535227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-calgary","10":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n