Rasmus Andersson has been the Calgary Flames’ best player this season.
Last week, though, there was nobody better around the NHL.
On Monday, the 29-year-old Flames blueliner was named as the NHL’s first star for the week ending November 23.
Andersson put up a wildly impressive stat line in four games for the Flames, potting two goals and seven assists. Nobody had more points than the Swede in that stretch and his production was key to the Flames winning three of their four games and clawing their way out of last place in the NHL.
“I think he’s been consistent all year for us, now I’d say he’s on a heater,” Huska told reporters after Sunday night’s win over the Vancouver Canucks. “The guys always talk about that, the younger guys, but he’s doing a lot of good things for us in a lot of different situations, whether it’s the penalty kill or the power play, which is starting to generate now.”
He’s currently sitting 12th among defencemen in NHL scoring for the season, with five goals and 11 assists through 24 games and is a plus-4 — a significant improvement after his plus/minus plummeted to minus-37 last season.
An unrestricted free-agent next summer, Andersson’s name has been floated in trade rumours for most of the year, but he has managed to avoid making it a distraction.
Making his numbers even more impressive is the fact that he’s putting them up for a Flames team that was struggling to score prior to this week, although they have rebounded over the past week, scoring 15 goals in four games.
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