Way back on Apr. 3, 2017, a 23-year-old defenceman named MacKenzie Weegar made his NHL debut, playing 16:45 on the Florida Panthers’ third pairing in a 4-1 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

On Saturday night, a now 30-year-old Weegar will suit up for his 500th NHL game as the Calgary Flames host the Panthers.

After morning skate, Flames head coach Ryan Huska discussed the importance of Weegar’s milestone.

“What I love about the 500 is he did it the hard way,” said Huska. “And all the way along, he’s had to improve himself. He started in the East Coast League. And a lot of times when players go down there, it’s easy to lose a little belief in yourself and get sidetracked and the game kind of slips away from you. But the way MacKenzie is today is the way he probably was as a junior. And he stayed committed to himself. And he made sure that he was going to do everything he could to be an NHL player. And now he’s at 500 games. And I love it. I think it’s awesome. And I know he’s got a lot more that are going to be coming down the pipe for him, too.”

A product of the Ottawa area, Weegar played his hockey as a youngster on various rungs of Ontario’s hockey ladder. When he didn’t get an opportunity to play major-junior in the Ontario Hockey League, he instead caught on as an 18-year-old with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Halifax Mooseheads. He impressed enough that season – capturing a QMJHL league championship and a Memorial Cup – to get selected in the seventh round of the 2013 NHL Draft by the Panthers.

Going pro as a 20-year-old in 2014-15, Weegar continued to grind his way up the hockey ladder. He split his first season between the American Hockey League’s San Antonio Rampage and the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. The following season, he established himself as a full-time AHLer with the Portland Pirates. By 2016-17, he was one of Florida’s more reliable blueliners on their AHL affiliate – which at that point had become the Springfield Falcons – and he received his first call-up and first three NHL games late in that season.

Weegar made the Panthers’ roster out of camp in 2017-18, and spent five seasons with that club. His peak years were arguably 2020-21 and 2021-22, when he received Norris Trophy votes in each season. Now a member of the Flames following his inclusion in a 2022 blockbuster trade, Weegar’s established himself as a leader off the ice and a versatile, minutes-munching defender on the ice. He had a career year in 2023-24, scoring 20 goals and posting 52 points – both career highs.

Speaking prior to Saturday’s game, Weegar reflected on the people that helped get him to 500 NHL games.

“There’s a there’s a handful of people for sure,” said Weegar. “But of course my parents, my sister, my fiancee, all my friends back home. Even through the tough times they were always there for me as well and they were always there for me for the good times, so I got a great supporting staff around me and that’s sort of created the man that I am today.”

Also reaching a milestone in Saturday’s game is defender Joel Hanley, coincidentally expected to be Weegar’s defensive partner for the evening. Hanley is playing his 200th NHL game, part of a career that’s seen the 33-year-old carve out a really important niche for himself as a reliable depth defender that can jump into games at a moment’s notice – and often after not playing for awhile. Signed as a college free agent by Montreal in 2015, Hanley has spent time with Montreal, Arizona, Dallas and the Flames during his career. Saturday will be his sixth game of the 2024-25 season.