"He’s got a contract that allows him to come back and be a part of it," Armstrong said. "He wants to win. There’s a lot of guys on our team, whether it’s [Nick Schmaltz] or it’s [Clayton Keller] or it’s (Sean) Durzi or it’s (Mikhail) Sergachev, they all have something to prove. He’s going to fit in well with that group and now take that next step. He also has the ability as we grow and the younger players take that next step, he’s going to be with us too and he’s going to be a huge part of our core moving forward."
Selected by Florida in the seventh round (No. 26) of the 2013 NHL Draft, Weegar has 272 points (62 goals, 210 assists) in 610 regular-season games for the Panthers and Flames and five points (one goal, four assists) in 20 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Armstrong said it could 4-10 days before Weegar arrives to join the Mammoth as visa issues are worked out.
"He’s got a great work ethic," Armstrong said. "Doing a lot of homework on him. His teammates spoke very highly of him, his former teammates, what he does in the dressing room, leads by example. He’s got a little bit of fight in him too, which we like. He wants to win, he wants to push this club to the next level. We’ll be excited when he arrives and actually gets in the lineup."
Keller said Weegar can provide a huge boost, and the move provides a vote of confidence from management and ownership.
"It's super exciting," the Utah captain said. "He's a hell of a player, someone that I'm a fan of. I think he's really going to help us all over the ice. Has compete, and the way he can move the puck. Super pumped about it. We were all super happy.
"It's great to see. And you know, it means a lot. We want to win, and ownership wants to win. Everyone wants to win. I think that's the biggest thing, and just keep pushing forward. And like I said, he's really going to help out our group a lot."
Maatta has one assist in 22 games for the Mammoth this season. The 31-year-old was a first-round pick (No. 22) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2012 NHL Draft. He has 196 points (42 goals, 154 assists) in 783 games for the Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings.
He won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and has 27 points (five goals, 22 assists) in 85 playoff games. Maatta is in the first season of a three-year, $10.5 million contract ($3.5 million AAV) signed with Utah on March 3, 2025.
“Just excited to be here, honestly." Maatta said Saturday. (It’s) never easy getting traded and leaving your friends and teammates behind. At the same time, I think I was honestly really excited just to have a new opportunity and a fresh start. That’s what I want to do. I want to bring my game, play my ‘A’ game.”
Castagna, a third-round pick (No. 70) by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2023 draft, has 32 points (14 goals, 18 assists) in 29 games at Cornell University this season.
The Flames (24-30-7) are 12 points behind the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
Calgary coach Ryan Huska said the return of Maatta and the draft picks will help give the Flames some flexibility, along with the addition of defenseman Zach Whitecloud, who was acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights for defenseman Rasmus Andersson on Jan. 18.
“We saw that with how valuable Zach’s been," Huska said, but there’s also other things that are at play, like those picks. As coaches, you hope that those picks can be used for different things along the way, right? (GM) Craig (Conroy) has done a really good job of putting our team in a pretty good position moving forward, he really has, so now it’s up to us to make sure that we drive home the importance of how our team needs to play every night. Having players like Maatta and Whitecloud now, they matter.”
The Mammoth (33-25-4) hold the first wild card from the West. Before the assets of the Arizona Coyotes were acquired and transferred to the new franchise in Utah in 2024, the team had made just one playoff appearance in the previous 12 seasons and last won a playoff series in 2011-12.
In the first season in Utah in 2024-25, the team finished 38-31-13, seven points out of the second wild card in the Western Conference. The progress this season encouraged Armstrong to be more aggressive at the trade deadline than he had been previously.
"They’ve earned our belief, the way that they’ve fought this year and the way that they’ve played and taking steps to become better that’s a lot of our players having that belief of showing up to the rink every day to take that next step," Armstrong said. "They’ve done a good job. We’re in the fight right now. We’re right where we’re supposed to be. It’s nice to reward them and be able to add to the group. In the past years when we were building it we were constantly stripping it down. It’s nice to be on the other side of that and adding a good player to our roster to take that next step."
NHL.com deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman and independent correspondent Laurence Heinen contributed to this report
