STOCKHOLM - MacKenzie Weegar isn't one to blend into the background.
Not with his game, nor with his personality.
But the Flames blueliner still felt it was important to be seen in another international audition with Canada at the 2025 IIHF World Championship.
The Olympics are just around the corner, after all.
And Sweden is where all the cool kids are hanging out.
"You've got Sid (Crosby) and Nate (MacKinnon) and (Jordan) Binnington... everybody's coming here to get ready for the Olympics," Weegar said. "Now that I've got to meet them a little bit, get comfortable around them... you know, maybe they can throw my name in the hat a little bit, too. I mean, I'm just happy to be here and experience it all. Playing with Sid, it's kind of a surreal experience right now.
"I'm just trying to take this moment in and if I get to bring it over there I'll be comfortable with that group over there because half the team is already here."
One could forgive Weegar if he happened to declined the invitation.
A push on the same stage in 2023, where he helped Canada to gold as the tournament's top defenceman, put him in consideration but couldn't quite yield him an opportunity to tug on the same logo he's got tattooed on his left bicep at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February - the first best-on-best NHLers had the opportunity to participate in since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
It takes more than that to sour the man affectionately referred to as 'Weegs' within the cozy confines of the Scotiabank Saddledome.