Report: Flames and Weegar ready to sign giant contract

According to Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the Calgary Flames are ready to commit significant dollars and term to recently acquired defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.

On his latest 32 Thoughts podcast episode, Friedman reports that both the Flames and Weegar are negotiating a contract that would be comparable to the one recently signed by Boston Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm. You may recall that the Bruins signed Lindholm to an 8 year, $52 million contract back in March after he was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks via trade. Lindholm's deal comes with a $6.5 million cap hit and Friedman reports that this is the framework of a potential deal for Weegar and the Flames.

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Weegar is a pending unrestricted free agent following this upcoming season coming off a three year deal that has paid him $3.25 million annually. While Weegar has yet to play a game for the Flames he has played some stellar defense the past two seasons. Personally, I'd be wary of committing so much term to someone who hasn't proven himself in my team's system, I can understand why the Flames are keen to lock him down. After all, this is a team that just waved goodbye to two players who they thought were committed in Johnny Gaudreau and Mathew Tkachuck. Weegar was, of course, acquired from the Florida Panthers in a blockbuster deal for Tkachuk after Tkachuk put in a formal trade request with Flames GM Brad Treliving. Treliving got to work with Huberdeau's camp and ended up putting pen to paper on an eight year, $84 million deal worth $10.5 million per season. It's believed that Treliving and Weegar's camp have been negotiating on a new deal since the Huberdeau was done earlier this summer.