The 2025\u201326 NHL season has been a trying season for many franchises already. NHLers returning to the Olympics also brings a condensed regular season. The tight schedule has been tumultuous to many teams, the Calgary Flames and Utah Mammoth included. <\/p>\n
The significant chunk of time consumed in February by the Olympic break means NHL front offices have less decision-making time at the deadline. The league breaks February 5th, and play resumes a mere week before the March 6th deadline.<\/p>\n
Both the Utah Mammoth and Calgary Flames find themselves relatively close in the standings despite their unique situations as franchises. <\/p>\n
Calgary\u2019s situation <\/p>\n
The Flames had the worst start to a regular season in their franchise\u2019s history. If that wasn\u2019t bad enough, the front office media tour and trade speculation have been enough drama for a full season.<\/p>\n
However, the Flames have been great at home this season, going 12\u20137\u20132, amassing 26 points. Simultaneously, they\u2019ve been one of the worst road teams. Their record is 6\u201313\u20132 on the road, amassing a measly 14 points. The effort has been just good enough to keep playoff hopes alive, although chances are dwindling.<\/p>\n
After a string of three straight losses to start the new year, the Flames find themselves in a position where Craig Conroy\u2019s phone rings more frequently with each loss. The Flames have fallen to an 18\u201320\u20134 record since the new year with 40 points. After Wednesday night\u2019s loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Flames are now 30th in the league. They are five points out of a wild-card spot with six teams ahead of them.<\/p>\n
Don Maloney might describe the Flames having to sell off players like Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Rasmus Andersson as \u201cfantasy hockey\u201d, but it\u2019s becoming a reality. <\/p>\n
Utah\u2019s situation<\/p>\n
Utah\u2019s sophomore season started with a bang, leading the ripping Central Division on October 26th after a seven-game winning streak. Since then, the Mammoth have gone through hot and cold spells. They are back down to .500 and just outside of a playoff spot. However, the Mammoth have dealt with some injury woes. Injuries have sidelined goalie Karel Vejmelka and have breakout talent Logan Cooley on IR until after the Olympic break.<\/p>\n
With a 3\u20131 win against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night, Utah lifted its record to .500 on the season at 20\u201320\u20133. Despite the Mammoth leading the Flames by a mere three points, they sit two points back of a wild-card position, trailing only three teams.<\/p>\n
Utah\u2019s fresh ownership group will certainly be hungry for the playoffs. With such a young roster and cap space, one would assume the Mammoth will be looking to add talent at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
Trade Proposal <\/p>\n
Calgary Receives: (F) Tij Iginila<\/p>\n
Utah Receives: (D) Rasmus Andersson, (F) Cullen Potter<\/p>\n
Utah sends Tij Iginla back home for Rasmus Andersson and Cullen Potter.<\/p>\n
The Mammoth have been in the rumour mill about acquiring a top-four defenceman this season, a right-handed shot at that. Furthermore, Utah isn\u2019t that bad defensively. They\u2019re third overall in the league at opponent shot attempts per game and have a reasonable penalty kill at 80.8%. Their biggest issue has been goaltending and breaking down on the rush.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not trying to diss Andersson, but his defensive metrics in his own end are league average. However, his transitional game on both ends of the ice is where he can stand out. Andersson could support a Utah team that has struggled defending the rush at points this season. He could also add some possession and playmaking ability to the Mammoth\u2019s offensive transition game. Furthermore, you\u2019d assume Andersson would be paired with Mikhaeil Sergichev playing top-pairing minutes while assuming a role on the penalty kill.<\/p>\n
Iginla for the Flames, a no-brainer. The former 6th overall pick in 2024 has obvious ties to Calgary and has been on a tear this season. Coming off a World Junior performance that featured four goals and eight points alongside his bronze medal, Iginla has had another successful junior season. The Kelowna Rockets standout has scored 13 goals and 27 points through 17 games en route to a host team birth in the 2026 Memorial Cup.<\/p>\n
There is no question that the Flames would want Iginla, but they would have to overpay. Iginla was the first draft pick in Utah\u2019s history (in Utah) and is by far their top prospect at the moment. There\u2019s sentiment on both sides. The Flames would have to cough up some additional assets alongside Andersson, despite his obvious fit. The Flames have been rumoured to ask for at least a first-round pick in 2026 + a top prospect. However, Conroy has been known to sit on his hands, or have them sat on, when the phone starts to ring.<\/p>\n
Andersson\u2019s value is not rising. Conroy already missed his window in the summer. He missed another in the fall when the Flames were at the bottom of the league. Now, they\u2019re on the cusp of dropping the final straw on the camel\u2019s back by holding onto him past mid-January. Combine that with Utah\u2019s admiration for Iginla, and the Flames will undoubtedly have to part with a top forward prospect if they have any chance of keeping their own, and Vegas\u2019 2026 1st round pick. <\/p>\n
Cole Reschney seems to be atop the Flames forward pool, but Cullen Potter is emerging as the dark horse of the 2025 first round. I would assume Utah would need one of the two to consider parting ways with Iginla for Andersson, with no futures involved. Even with an extension in place for Andersson, I\u2019m not sure Bill Armstrong takes the bait. The Flames might have to sweeten the pot further with a condition mid-round selection.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s far-fetched, but the Flames\u2019 odds of getting a solid return on Andersson are dwindling. Acquiring some Hall of Fame-hometown talent could soften the blow if the Flames are willing to pay for it.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025\u201326 NHL season has been a trying season for many franchises already. NHLers returning to the Olympics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[895,26,5294,896,5,4,548,3327,730,3613,3154],"class_list":{"0":"post-404064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary-flames","8":"tag-calgary","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-calgaryflames","11":"tag-flames","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-nhl-trade-deadline","15":"tag-rasmus-andersson","16":"tag-tij-iginla","17":"tag-trade","18":"tag-utah-mammoth"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115884349401843074","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}