NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – FEBRUARY 11: MacKenzie Weegar #52 of the Florida Panthers 3. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
1. MacKenzie Weegar – 26 years old – LD
2019-20 stats – 45 GP – 7 G – 11 A – 18 PTS – 51.7% CF%
Career stats – 172 GP – 13 G – 28 A – 41 PTS – 51.7% CF%
At my number one spot is MacKenzie Weegar.
Now a lot of people may not know who MacKenzie Weegar is, but he’s a very underrated defensemen from Florida.
At 26 years old and currently an RFA set to have an arbitration meeting on November 8th he is getting a lot of attention from a handful of teams in the league according to Elliotte Friedman, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of them.
He is a right shot defensemen who plays on the left side because he was paired with Aaron Ekblad in Florida, however I doubt the change to the right side will be challenging for him if he ends up getting dealt to Toronto.
The asking price for a guy like Weegar is unknown to me but it was reported on Elliotte Friedman’s 31 Thoughts podcast that Florida had interest in two of Toronto’s players and the Maple Leafs allegedly turned it down.
Elliotte Friedman on 31 Thoughts podcast about Weegar and Toronto. “I think that Florida made an ask, and i think that they were looking at Johnsson & Dermott, and i think Toronto turned that down”#LeafsForever
— Joseph Zita (@josephdzita) October 13, 2020
Perhaps the cost could come down for this player after arbitration and we could see a trade similar to the Devon Toews trade to Colorado which only cost them two 2nd round picks.
While the Leafs may or may not be done for now, I’d really like to see them add one of these defensemen.