The Calgary Flames are generating trade interest in veteran defenceman Rasmus Andersson, once again, amplifying the belief that he will be moved at some point this season.
Andersson, 29, has been the subject of trade speculation dating back to last season, and is now in the final year of his contract. He owns a six-team no-trade list as part of his contract and comes with a $4.55 million cap hit this season.
During Tuesday’s edition of “Insider Trading” on TSN, Pierre LeBrun reported the Flames have received more calls on Andersson since Quinn Hughes was trade to Minnesota.
“What I am hearing is that the Calgary Flames suddenly got more calls on Rasmus Andersson after the Quinn Hughes trade,” he said. “That’s not surprising. There aren’t going to be that many top-four defencemen moving between now and the March 6 trade deadline.”
As TFP has reported on numerous occasions, the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights are two teams that have expressed interest in Andersson in the past, and both clubs are teams Andersson is willing to sign an extension with.
Conversely, the Los Angeles Kings tried to trade for Andersson during the summer, but the trade broke down after Andersson refused to sign an extension with them.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have shown interest in Andersson last season and earlier this season, and LeBrun added that Toronto has checked back in.
“One thing I should mention is that among the teams that have circled back on Rasmus Andersson is the Toronto Maple Leafs,” he said. “We know the Leafs tried to trade for Andersson last year at the deadline, and why I mentioned Toronto is that my understanding is that the Leafs would be one of those teams that perhaps Andersson would consider extending with, if in fact a trade would work out between those two teams.”
It is unclear what type of contract Andersson is looking for, and it is also unknown as to the type of return the Flames want, especially if Andersson commits to an extension.