Florida Panthers Need to Bring Back RFA MacKenzie Weegar

With defensive issues remaining a huge problem for the Florida Panthers last season, keeping around a defensive bright spot in MacKenzie Weegar should be one of the many free agent moves the Panthers make.

After an admiral rookie season that saw MacKenzie Weegar have a spot in the Florida Panthers’ squad for a majority of the season, Weegar began to build on that season.

The 25-year-old played a career-high 64 games last season, recording career highs in goals, points, blocks, hits, and more throughout the 2018-19 campaign.

Weegar alternated between defensive partners a lot last season, mostly playing on the bottom pair with either Ian McCoshen, Josh Brown, or Bogdan Kiselevich in the early parts of the season.

Weegar also occasionally played alongside Keith Yandle on the second pair when Mark Pysyk struggled, which helped him increase his confidence.

While he may not consistently be at the level of a top-four defenseman, Weegar was solid alongside Yandle. Weegar’s defensive instincts and positioning allowed Yandle to not only control the puck more but give him much more cover than Aaron Ekblad averaged.

What impressed me the most about Weegar this season was his resilience. Weegar was used as a healthy scratch in the Panthers’ first five games and was replaced after just two games of play in which neither result was really his fault.

He suffered a concussion mid-January and a lower-body injury in February which sidelined him for ten games (would have been more if it wasn’t for the All-Star Break).

Like the season before, Weegar upped his play in the last few months of the season. After averaging around 16 minutes in the first two months, Weegar played six games where he logged 20+ minutes of ice time, including a stretch of three games that he logged four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in three games against Boston, Minnesota, and Detroit.

So, why bring back Weegar over a free agent like Anton Stralman or Tyler Myers? For one, youth is on his side. The former seventh-round draft pick may still have some room to grow into a consistent second pairing defenseman if these next two seasons aren’t interrupted by injury or other concerns. Weegar has shown a passion to improve his game with each passing season.

Weegar also should be more comfortable playing with this Panthers’ core than other free agents or trade targets.

Take Stralman for example, he’s better than Weegar, but at 32-years-old, it’ll be hard for him to adjust into a new scheme in the short amount of time the Panthers need him to develop in.

Weegar should also come significantly cheaper than a lot of other options the Panthers may be looking at.

Some of the top trade rumors for Florida of late, Ryan Ellis, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Jacob Trouba will all be making $5 million or more in the next couple of seasons.

While all are better than Weegar, Weegar may be able to develop into what Hjalmarsson could be for Florida on significantly less pay. This may also factor in if the Panthers land Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin this free agency.

Getting these two would take up most of the cap, but being able to bring back Weegar would help lessen the load the Panthers need to use to help spend money on building a playoff contender.