MacKenzie Weegar, now with the Utah Mammoth, is speaking up about Americans leaving Canadian NHL markets.
On the OverDrive this week, Weegar called it a tough question, then admitted something that clearly sits with him.
"As a Canadian who played in Calgary, for me personally, I had a great experience in Canada," Weegar said. "Calgary was an absolute blast to play in."
There's some irony in who's saying this. Weegar himself left Calgary partway through last season, landing in Utah after 79 games north of the border.
He still put up 28 points in that Calgary stretch, a minus-33 rating attached to a team that was clearly sliding.
But his own exit wasn't about wanting out of Canada. It's Americans specifically leaving that seems to bother him, and the list keeps growing.
Start with Matthew Tkachuk, who left Calgary behind years ago and has been rebuilding his career in Florida ever since.
The pattern Weegar is actually pointing at
His brother Brady followed a similar road, leaving Ottawa to join Matthew in Florida. Brady put up 59 points in 60 games last season, Matthew added 34 in just 31.
Two Tkachuk brothers, two Canadian franchises left behind, now wearing the same American jersey.
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Then there's Quinn Hughes, arguably the biggest name on this list, gone from Vancouver to the Minnesota Wild.
Hughes posted 76 points in 74 games last season and racked up 15 more in 11 playoff games, exactly the kind of star power a franchise hates losing.
Minnesota finished 46-24-12 under head coach John Hynes, seventh overall in the league, with Hughes now anchoring their blue line instead of Vancouver's.
Connor Hellebuyck is the next name hanging over this conversation, with trade rumors swirling around Winnipeg's franchise goaltender.
Hellebuyck posted an .895 save percentage across 57 games last season for a Jets team that finished 35-35-12, 26th overall in the league.
If he leaves for an American franchise, he'd be walking the exact path Hughes and both Tkachuks already took.
Then there's Auston Matthews, an American himself, who has stayed put in Toronto through one of the most scrutinized markets in hockey.
Matthews managed 53 points in 60 games last season, still the face of a Canadian franchise despite everything that market demands of him.
So the pattern isn't as clean as simply Americans wanting out. Matthews proves it can go the other way too.
Weegar's larger point is that this is something the league and its Canadian teams need to address, not just shrug off as normal player movement.
Is losing American stars like Quinn Hughes and the Tkachuks actually a real problem for Canadian NHL teams?
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