Defenseman Mackenzie Weegar resigns with Florida Panthers

Ravi Brammer via Flickr

NHL

The 24-year-old Defenseman Signed a One-Year Contract on Wednesday.

Dale Tallon struck another deal despite the Cat’s current cap space situation. On Wednesday, Mackenzie Weegar resigned with Florida on a one-year, one-way contract. With this, the Florida Panthers have officially signed all of their restricted free agents that played in at least one regular season game for the squad.

Weegar is a young defenseman that was drafted 206th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft. However, he would not become a staple on the Panthers roster until the 2017-2018 season. Although he did play six games the year prior, he did not obtain a single point. Weegar would obtain his first career point against the Pittsburgh Penguins when he scored a goal against them on October 20, 2017. This was only the start of his young career. Weegar would go on to play 60 games this season for the Cats. Despite registering only eight points, he would finish with a +5 rating. This shows that Weegar can develop into a successful two-way defenseman. With all the blueliners that Florida signed, Weegar will fight hard to retain his spot out of training camp. In addition, Weegar has been in this situation before. Like most young NHL players, he spent most of his time in the AHL playing for Springfield and had to earn his spot on an NHL roster. It is likely that Weegar has adapted to training camp and is ready for whatever comes at him.

Additionally, Weegar fits Florida’s young core. At 24 years old, he could mesh well with a young defenseman like Mike Matheson and Aaron Ekblad while also rallying around a young coach like Bob Boughner.

Contract Details

As previously mentioned, the deal that Weegar signed is a one-year, one-way contract. According to CapFriendly.com, the deal is worth $900,000. As a result, the contract will leave the Panthers with a little more than $2.02 million. This deal raises their cap hit to $77.5 million. However, as previously mentioned, Dale Tallon has successfully resigned all his tools from last season. Only the upcoming season will tell if all of his moves pan out.