Rasmus Andersson’s time with the Calgary Flames came to an end this Sunday.
After tons of chatter throughout the week, the 29-year-old was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Zach Whitecloud, a 2027 first-round pick, a conditional 2028 second-round pick, and prospect Abram Wiebe.
There’s no sugarcoating this return. The vast majority of Flames fans are left feeling underwhelmed, believing that Andersson, in the midst of a great season, would land a bigger haul.
While some are frustrated with GM Craig Conroy, others are more understanding. After all, Andersson — who was well within his rights — made things difficult by making it clear he wouldn’t be signing an extension anywhere at this time.
Perhaps the biggest debate in all of this is whether or not the Flames were too patient throughout this entire process.
As Flames fans will remember, trade speculation surrounding Andersson dated all the way back to last season. There was a belief that the organization was considering moving him ahead of the 2025 deadline, though that didn’t wind up coming to fruition.
The reasons for Andersson’s move were rather obvious. The Flames were in a rebuilding mode after having moved out several other veterans over the past year. They also needed, at some point, to create some space for younger, right-shot defencemen such as Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz.
It’s also worth mentioning that Andersson would have had far less control in a trade a year ago. With a term remaining on his contract, any acquiring team wouldn’t have been able to have extension talks with him, and would have had him for an additional season.
A year later, with no term remaining, the right-shot defenceman made it clear he wasn’t immediately extending anywhere. That hurt the return and has many suggesting a move last season would have gotten the Flames a bigger haul.
There is certainly some validity to that claim, as the Flames seemingly put themselves in a position they have with several other players in recent years. Take Noah Hanifin, for example, who, in the final year of his contract, handcuffed the Flames in a similar fashion.
On the flip side of the coin, there is no knowing whether the Flames had better offers at last year’s deadline. After all, Andersson was in the midst of his worst NHL season, one in which he finished with a plus/minus of -38. Interest in him at the time may not have been as high as some are assuming based on the impressive 2025-26 season he’s put together.
Hindsight on all of these things is 20/20. Had the Flames traded Andersson last season, there would have been many of the same complaints that they sold him when his value was at its lowest.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. For now, let’s just wait and see what else Conroy may have up his sleeve before the March 6 trade deadline.
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