Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson is eligible to sign a contract extension as of today but talks between him and the team showed that there is still a considerable bridge to gap. While GM Craig Conroy has said they’re comfortable with having the blueliner in training camp without a new deal in place, the gap in discussions has certainly fueled trade speculation.
To that end, TSN’s Darren Dreger recently reported on Edmonton Sports Talk (video link) that the Kings were believed to have a trade in place to acquire the 28-year-old but Andersson made it known that he doesn’t want to play for them. He only has a six-team no-trade list but presumably, Los Angeles would have found out about Andersson’s lack of desire to play there when hypothetically discussing what an extension would look like.
At the moment, it appears that Andersson has his eyes set on one trade destination in particular. Pierre LeBrun reports in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link) that the team on the top of Andersson’s wish list is the Golden Knights. He adds that there have been discussions between the two teams over the past week but Calgary hasn’t been excited about the offers on the table just yet.
There’s a logical fit for Andersson in Vegas, with Alex Pietrangelo’s playing days appearing to be over now. Pietrangelo’s absence would open up a significant hole on the right side of their back end, one that Andersson would be capable of filling.
The 28-year-old has been an all-situations player for several years in Calgary and has reached at least 30 points in four straight years. Andersson is coming off a quieter year but he still managed 10 goals and 21 assists in 81 games for Calgary last season while logging 23:59 per night of playing time. While he wouldn’t be quite as impactful as a healthy Pietrangelo, he would certainly be a quality replacement.
Of course, fitting him onto the books for the upcoming season is a whole other challenge. Vegas used the LTIR relief from Pietrangelo to acquire Mitch Marner from Toronto. Even with the LTIR savings, that will put them over the cap by the time they fill the remaining open roster spots, meaning that some salary would need to be cleared to open up room for Andersson and his $4.55MM cap charge for next season.
Meanwhile, should Andersson get moved to his preferred team, it stands to reason that an extension would need to be worked out. Given the contracts that have been handed out to some blueliners in recent days, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could come close to doubling his current price tag on a long-term contract.
With Vegas taking on Marner at $12MM per season and Jack Eichel expected to receive an extension at some point as well, that’s a lot of money to be adding to their future books so if the Golden Knights are able to land Andersson, they’re going to have to clear up some significant cap room – both present and future – to do so.