The Calgary Flames have a Rasmus Andersson dilemma

There aren’t many easy decisions when you’re a team caught between eras.

The Flames aren’t rebuilding in any formal sense, but they also aren’t in a position to bluff their way into contention. They’re competitive, stubborn and proud, but not quite dangerous enough to scare anyone come April.

In that kind of middle ground, the harsh reality is you either push forward with conviction or you turn the wheel toward the future. One asset at a time.

Which brings us to Rasmus Andersson.

He’s 29, is a right-shot defenceman and is having one of the best starts of his career despite the team’s overall struggles.

Beyond placing second on the team in scoring through the first 30 games, Andersson plays the hardest minutes on the back-end, is a regular on the power play, kills penalties and logs 24+ minutes per night.

He’s everything playoff teams pay a premium for. He’s also a pending UFA at year’s end. In other words, Andersson is the most valuable single trade chip the team has left. Right-handed top-pair defencemen don’t hit the trade block often. And when they do, it tends to get expensive in a hurry.

What Could Andersson Command in Return?

Rental defensemen fall into two categories: Serviceable depth guys and legitimate top-pairing players. Andersson is the latter.

He isn’t a power-play specialist who needs sheltering. He isn’t a mid-pair puck-mover who feasts on soft minutes. He’s the guy you deploy with confidence against strong competition who can play in practically any situation.

That type of profile walks into any contender’s top four on Night 1. And at 50% retained, his cap hit drops to $2.275 million, which is cheap enough to slide into even the tightest contender without major cap-management gymnastics. For a team with a window right now, that is exactly the kind of move that gets made.

We’ve seen versions of this before. When Anaheim moved Hampus Lindholm in 2022 as a pending UFA, Boston paid with three picks — a first and two seconds — and young roster pieces before signing him long-term.

When Nashville sent Mattias Ekholm to Edmonton in 2023, it cost a first, a top prospect and an NHL defenceman going back the other way. Even Jake McCabe, who had less offensive ceiling than Andersson but term on his deal, cost Toronto a protected first.

When Ben Chiarot was one of the most-coveted players on the trade market in 2022, the Florida Panthers paid the Montreal Canadiens a prospect, a first-round pick and a fourth-round pick.

None are perfect comparisons, but they give us a range of returns to consider. The point is pretty clear, though: If you want to acquire a top-four defenceman at the deadline, the ask starts with a first-round pick and goes up from there.

For Calgary, that price matters. Aside from Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman, the Flames don’t have a lot of marquee veteran trade assets left. Andersson’s relatively young age, palatable contract and rebound performance this season mean Calgary might have the most coveted trade deadline player in the NHL this year.

Potential Trade Partners

Strip out the obvious non-fits first. The Flames aren’t sending him up the highway to Edmonton. That would require a return so astronomical it stops being realistic.

The Leafs are run by Brad Treliving, and are short on prospects to begin with. Deals like that tend to require too much political capital for both sides.

The real market lives elsewhere.

The Dallas Stars are an obvious candidate. With a win-now core and a blueline built around Miro Heiskanen, Andersson would give them formidable depth on the back-end. A first-round pick plus a quality young player like Lian Bichsel or Mavrik Bourque isn’t unreasonable in that scenario.

The Vegas Golden Knights have been rumored to be interested in Andersson since the summer. With Alex Pietrangelo essentially retiring from hockey this off-season, his departure has left a large hole on the Knights’ blueline. Unfortunately, Vegas has been aggressively “buying” for years, so their future asset pile is rather lacklustre.

Some say the Los Angeles Kings made a very aggressive offer for Andersson before the start of the year. Though the deal didn’t get done at the time, the Kings are desperate to grow out of their rebuild phase. Their blueline is also fairly thin, especially with Drew Doughty growing long in the tooth.

Of course, we can’t be sure what the playoff picture will look like come the trade deadline in March (assuming the Flames wait that long to move the player), but practically every hungry contender probably would be willing to make room for someone like Andersson. The more bidders there are, the higher the price should be.

The uncomfortable conclusion

This is where emotion gets involved: Andersson is a heart-and-soul Flame. He battled his way into the league without being handed anything. He’s a vocal leader. He plays with bite. Fans like him. Teammates trust him. Every rebuilding club says it wants players like Rasmus Andersson.

Related

But teams stuck in transition often make their biggest mistakes by keeping the players they’re most afraid to lose.

Calgary’s competitive timeline is years away, at best. Keeping him will likely mean offering a deal that starts with an eight or nine and lasts for 7-8 seasons. The players’ priorities and the team’s priorities don’t line up.

If they’re serious about drafting and developing the next wave, then Andersson is exactly the type of player who can accelerate that process with a trade. The organization should move him while the market is frothing and capitalize on the scarcity of top-pairing, right-shot defencemen.

If the Flames decide to turn the page, Andersson should bring back the kind of package that can help shape the next core: a first-round pick, a solid prospect and maybe even a young NHLer.

In a different reality, where the Flames are still a legit playoff team or even Cup contender, keeping Andersson is a no-brainer. But Calgary is facing its fourth straight season outside of the playoff picture and cannot afford to add another big contract to its existing stable of pricey veterans.

Andersson is having a great season. The Flames should trade him for a great return.

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