Before Broberg, Blues Made Push To Acquire Weegar From Flames

The St. Louis Blues didn't make a ton of noise in the offseason until two offer sheets were sent to the Edmonton Oilers and the Blues were able to bring in both Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.

The Blues were a fringe playoff team last season and will likely find themselves in the same spot again in 2024-25. While upgrades were needed, there wasn't a lot of cap space to do so. The players that the team needs to ship off are very difficult to move, so there was limited work done.

Before the Blues jumped on offering Broberg way more money to sign an offer sheet, the team expressed interest in Mackenzie Weegar of the Calgary Flames, per David Pagnotta. This would have seen another older defenseman on a long-term deal brought in to fill the back-end. Whether this would have turned out well probably won't be known unless the Blues circle back next offseason. Trading Weegar with his contract isn't a move that's easy to make in the middle of a season for a playoff-hopeful team.

If the Blues would have been able to acquire Weegar, who's signed until 2031, there would have had to be a d-man with a larger cap hit going the other way. Colton Parayko comes to mind as the easiest to move and he also plays the right side. Torey Krug has refused to waive his no-trade clause already and Justin Faulk is on the older side and wouldn't fit into what the Flames are building.

Weegar had a great season in 2023-24, so acquiring him wouldn't be cheap, especially if the Flames aren't openly shopping him. They do appear to be heading into a rebuild, but every rebuilding team has veterans with larger contracts on them to get the team to the cap floor. Weegar signed so that he could help the Flames win. That won't be the case for a while with the direction Calgary is headed in. Expect there to be lots of conversations surrounding the Flames and the Blues to poke their head in to see what they can buy.