{"id":194649,"date":"2026-09-03T16:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/194649\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:48:07","slug":"nhl-player-comments-on-why-american-players-want-out-of-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/194649\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL player comments on why American players want out of Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/nhl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">NHL<\/a> has seen a growing number of American-born stars seek trades away from Canadian teams, raising questions about whether players are increasingly looking south of the border for new opportunities.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ottawa native and former Calgary Flames d-man MacKenzie Weegar shared his thoughts on the recent trend of star players wanting out of Canadian markets \ud83e\udee3<\/p>\n<p>Weegar made it clear how much he loved playing in Calgary and praised the passion of Canadian hockey fans, but added that\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/y5B5LxU90j\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/y5B5LxU90j<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GinoHard_\/status\/2095504621846282611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">September 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/nhl-trade-shakes-up-eastern-conference-ranks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NHL trade shakes up Eastern Conference ranks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A growing trend of American stars leaving Canada<\/p>\n<p><img data-od-added-loading=\"\" data-od-removed-fetchpriority=\"high\" data-od-replaced- data-od-xpath=\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@class='elementor elementor-68004 elementor-location-single post-228636 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-nhl tag-mackenzie-weegar tag-nhl tag-utah-mammoth mv-content-wrapper']\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[5][self::FIGURE]\/*[1][self::PICTURE]\/*[2][self::IMG]\" loading=\"lazy\" data-wp-picture-wrapped=\"\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-04-30T042500Z_625141917_MT1USATODAY28843473_RTRMADP_3_NHL-STANLEY-CUP-PLAYOFFS-UTAH-MAMMOTH-AT-.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-228666\" \/>Apr 29, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse (67) celebrates with center Alexander Kerfoot (15) and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) after scoring a goal against the Vegas Golden Knights during the second period of game five of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the wake of Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck\u2019s recent trade request, the trend has become difficult to ignore.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hellebuyck became the third American-born star to request a trade from a Canadian team since the middle of last season, following Quinn Hughes\u2019 request to leave the Vancouver Canucks and Brady Tkachuk\u2019s departure from the Ottawa Senators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tkachuk left Ottawa to join his brother Matthew with the Florida Panthers. Matthew previously requested a trade from the Calgary Flames in 2022 before ultimately landing in Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Canadian veteran defenceman Mackenzie Weegar, who spent four seasons with Calgary before being traded to the Utah Mammoth ahead of last season\u2019s trade deadline, offered his perspective on the apparent trend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weegar described the situation as \u201ca bit unfortunate\u201d while emphasizing how much he enjoyed his time in Calgary and playing in Canada. However, he acknowledged that American markets can \u201coffer a little more\u201d than Canadian markets in certain respects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/panthers-brad-marchand-senators-tim-stutzle-nhl\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Panthers\u2019 Brad Marchand under fire for \u2018disrespect\u2019 towards Senators\u2019 Tim Stutzle<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Could American markets be more attractive?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weegar is entering his first full season with Utah and the fourth year of the eight-year, $50 million contract he originally signed with Calgary in 2022. The 32-year-old struggled after joining the Mammoth last season, recording one goal and seven points in 19 regular-season games with Utah. He finished the season with a minus-33 rating over 79 games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The recent success of American hockey has also fueled speculation that players may be increasingly interested in returning home. That discussion intensified after the United States won Olympic gold at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games, with Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews leading the American team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matthews has two years remaining on his current contract, making him a player to watch as the conversation continues. While there is no confirmation that American players are leaving Canadian teams because of market differences or national loyalty, the recent series of trade requests has certainly sparked debate across the NHL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/subscribe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2013 Enjoy free coverage of the top news &amp; trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter \u2013<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHL has seen a growing number of American-born stars seek trades away from Canadian teams, raising questions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,3400,271,9562],"class_list":["post-194649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-mackenzie-weegar","tag-nhl","tag-utah-mammoth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}