The return of international, best-on-best hockey is almost upon us. The 4 Nations Face-off tournament will begin on Feb. 12, with Team Canada, Team USA, Team Sweden, and Team Finland taking the ice in Montreal and Boston as a precursor to NHL players returning to the Olympics in 2026. With international hockey returning to the fray instead of the usual All-Star weekend festivities, the teams’ general managers must decide which players make the best overall roster.
For Canada general manager Don Sweeney, he made his initial roster decisions before having to be faced with a choice brought on by Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo opting out of the tournament because of an ‘ailment.’
With the loss of Pietrangelo — a right-handed, strong two-way defenceman who has captained a team to a Stanley Cup championship — Sweeney will have to find a replacement for one of his top four defenders, and there’s no shortage of options.
While a player like Drew Doughty could be a feasible option for Team Canada, seeing as he’s also a right-handed defenceman who was at one point your prototypical two-way defenceman and led a team to a Stanley Cup championship, there is a risk in taking an older defenceman who has only played a handful of games so far this season for the Los Angeles Kings.
There is also an option for the other team in Alberta with Evan Bouchard, but there are already more than enough offensively inclined defenders on Canada’s backline. Management finding the right replacement means replacing what Pietrangelo can do offensively and defensively.
Therefore, it’s hard to imagine that MacKenzie Weegar isn’t the correct choice to replace Pietrangelo on Team Canada’s roster.
While Weegar hasn’t been as lethal offensively as last year when he eclipsed the 20-goal mark, he’s still on par with Pietrangelo regarding point production. The Flames blueliner has 27 points in 52 games, while Pietrangelo sits with 25 points in 50 games, with the Vegas defender averaging almost a minute more ice time per game.
The comparisons extend into the analytics sector of hockey statistics as well. While Pietrangelo has technically been the “better” defenseman, according to a statistic like expected goals for percentage (xGF%), this is mainly due to the two’s offensive output.
Weegar’s production (as seen in the regularized adjusted plus-minus chart below as well) on the offensive end of the ice is still above average, but only slightly. Pietrangelo has generated plenty of offence for the Golden Knights to work from — around two standard deviations worth — despite the similar point production to Weegar.
Defensively, though, Weegar has the advantage, as opponents who see him on the ice receive far fewer shot attempts and high-quality chances.
Weegar’s defence affected not only the amount of purple in their charts but also their totals for goals above replacement (GAR) and expected goals above replacement (xGAR) per Evolving Hockey.
Through 53 games for Weegar, he has totalled 11.7 GAR, good for seventh in the NHL among all defencemen, with most of that coming from his defensive performance. He also sits seventh among all defencemen in xGAR (12.0), above most of the defencemen who made the Team Canada roster other than Cale Makar.
Weegar will likely get a look from the Team Canada brass no matter what, but considering the sandpaper and skill he brings to a blue line, along with all of the data showing him as the favourable replacement based on play this season, it’s hard to suggest he shouldn’t be the final choice
The Flames have been fortunate to have Weegar on the blue line since being traded along with Jonathan Huberdeau (who has emerged in his own right this season, specifically). And while there may be a fair few fans who would be confused by selecting the 31-year-old Ottawa native, there’s no denying that he has been an integral part of the Flames identity, and he could be for a Team Canada squad looking to come out on top.
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