The future of Rasmus Andersson with Calgary seems bleak by the day as even Flames captain Mikael Backlund stated quite bluntly during the European NHL media tour: “Yeah, he’s getting traded. It’s obvious.”
The 28 year old Swedish vet is entering the final season of his current $4.5 million deal with the Flames. The 9 year Calgary dman recorded 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points in 80 games this past campaign as his squad narrowly missed postseason contention with a 96 point effort.
For the moment it appears despite all the trade talk and the inevitably of a future departure, the Flames are content with going into this season with Anderson still on their roster. They are in no rush to get a deal done. But, that leaves the question of where he will get dealt once Calgary decides to pull the trigger on a move.
Vegas could be in the cards for Andersson
Dave Benson of Heavy Sports has identified the Vegas Golden Knights as an organization that could be in the market for Rasmus in the future.
One team that is always in the running for players in Andersson’s position is Vegas. For the Golden Knights, Rasmus Anderson is precisely the player they are missing in their lineup with one of their top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo out for at least the season with hip issues. Vegas now has a clear need for another top 4 dman in their arsenal to compliment their core led by Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin, notably Andersson’s former teammate in Calgary.
Vegas would as usual have to perform some serious cap magic to make room for Andersson in their books. Pietrangelo’s contract coming off the books would help, but they still have work to do before they can pick up the phone and run the lines.
We’ll see where the coveted Flames dman lands at some point this season before the 2026 trade deadline. For Calgary’s sake depending on how the season turns out, the sooner they deal with this situation the better.
