'COMPETITIVE NATURE'

LOS ANGELES - You know a guy is feeling it when he follows up a 45-mph "dip-a-roo" with a considerably more graceful "muff-a-reeno."
… right?
We may have to consult the MacKenzie-Webster Dictionary to pin down the definitions - but while the velocities may be in question, you can't argue with the results. With goals in back-to-back games and a chance to extend that spree tonight in Tinseltown, Weegar's play at both ends of the ice is turning heads around the Flames locker-room these days.
Almost as much as that rangy lexicon of his.
"We call him the 'Muffin Man' now," chuckled longtime pal Jonathan Huberdeau. "In Florida, I never heard any of these words. But I think it's good.
"It fits him really well.
"Hey, it's worked out the past few games. It's good to see. Offensively, it's been tough for both of us this year, but it's good to see him get rewarded."

You can say that again.
Weegar might be one of the most underrated players in the game today, but anytime a guy comes through on the scoresheet, he's bound to make headlines. And in the mind of one of his closest allies, it's about time the talented rearguard gets his due.
"I've been with him for a lot of years and I don't think he's a guy that gets recognized that much," Huberdeau said. "But he's a skilled guy and someone that can make a lot of plays. And lately, like you've seen, he does that.
"I think a lot of it has to do with confidence. In Florida, he was one of our top defencemen. We lost (Aaron) Ekblad a couple years in a row due to injury and he stepped up and took that spot. That's what we needed him to do. He's not only an offensive guy, either. He's really good defensively and plays hard every night, too."

Lately, a shake-up on the backend has helped lead to this boost in production.
Weegar and Rasmus Andersson were put together as a pair on Feb. 28 against the Boston Bruins. In the 10 games since, the two have played more even-strength minutes than any other duo, topping the charts in shot share, while out-scoring their opponents 11-4. More impressively, they seem to be getting better with every game they play together. If you whittle the sample size down even further to, say, the last three games - where the Flames have accumulated a 1-0-2 record - possession, scoring chances (including high-danger looks) and goal differential balloon to astronomical levels.
For example, Weegar and Andersson have outshot their opponents 31-9. They've out-chanced them 27-8. They've out-scored them 7-1. It's easy to say that high level of production is unsustainable because of a wildly high, 22.58% shooting percentage at evens - but when the chances are so heavily skewed like that, there's no reason they can't continue to ride the lightning for at least a little while longer.
"I feel like after the all-star break, he had a total reset," said Assistant Coach Ryan Huska, who looks after the blueliners. "He understands where he's at now and since he's been paired with Rasmus, he's been really good for us - at both ends of the ice.
"Analytically, when you look at all the numbers around MacKenzie, he always shows up near the top in regards to his disrupt or stick-on-puck plays. Positionally, he's in the right spot a lot of times. I think he is a little underrated with how well he plays in his own zone and away from the puck.
"But over the course of the year, his game has gotten better and better.
"I think people forget that when somebody changes teams, or locations or cities, there's a lot that goes into it. Everyone wants it to happen overnight where you see a player's best, but there's a lot of things that are involved in him feeling like he belongs here."
That's where he's at now.
Returning from that 10-day breather, Weegar was no longer the 'new guy' trying to get acclimated. He was now officially part of the family, lending credence to the "comfort" that the D man spoke about following Saturday's tilt against Dallas.
Recently, his name soars off the sheet because the offensive side of his game has taken a little longer to come around following that blockbuster trade. Known as one of the league's elite two-way defenders before coming to Calgary, the 29-year-old was coming off a career-high 44-point (8G, 36A) campaign with the Panthers last year.
Even with a season-high, three-point night on the weekend, he's almost certain to fall short of that mark this year. But that doesn't diminish how good he's been (again) on the defensive side of the puck.
Weegar is literally one of the league's best at shot suppression, leading all NHL blueliners in shots against/60 with 21.18. When it comes to shot attempts, he currently holds down the second spot (42.36), behind Carolina rearguard Calvin de Haan (41.96). In almost every available metric (goals-against/60, scoring chances against/60, etc.), Weegar is at or near the top of an elite grouping of shutdown defencemen.
And if you look at this graphic of shot attempts against/60 sorted by D pairs, you'll first notice a lot of the Flaming C logo - followed by a name that starts with W:

"There are two things for me," Huska said, pointing to Weegar's defensive assets. "He plays close to his opponent - whether you want to call that 'gaps' or him challenging with his feet. The second, of course, is he does have a longer stick for a defenceman, especially for one of his size. He's able, with that tight gap, to get that stick out quite quickly, so he's hard to play through and around. He knocks a lot of pucks down and creates a lot of battle-stall areas because of it.
"The other thing that we've seen from MacKenzie all year long that he hasn't lost over this last little bit, is the competitive nature. He's one of our most competitive guys on the backend, for sure."
Added Huberdeau: "He doesn't like it when guys make him look bad. So, he really tries to play physical on the other team's top players, and that's something he's been doing his whole career, too."
Weegar has quietly been going about his business as a top-flight defender all year, putting up elite numbers in puck retrievals, breakouts, denying zone entries and protecting the middle of the ice.
But now - and with a little more offence on his resume - it's become awfully clear how much of a game-changer he can be.
"When I look at that pair, I think they're similar-minded in terms of the offensive side of the game - and that's good, because they complement each other," Huska. "Their competitiveness, their fire, brings out the best in each of them, and what we're seeing now is that they both have a better understanding of how they have to play every night for us to have success.
"That's playing big minutes against top lines.
"But it's also helping us in the offensive side of the game."