{"id":417309,"date":"2026-01-20T05:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/417309\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T05:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:43:13","slug":"andersson-very-much-what-golden-knights-were-looking-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/417309\/","title":{"rendered":"Andersson \u2018Very Much What Golden Knights Were Looking For\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, Vegas Golden Knights General Manager Kelly McCrimmon met with the media prior to the team\u2019s\u00a02-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCrimmon began with a statement about\u00a0Sunday\u2019s trade<\/a>, in which the Golden Knights acquired Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Rasmus, we get a high-end defenseman,\u201d began McCrimmon. \u201cHe drives possession, he can make plays, he\u2019s good in transition, he\u2019s aggressive in the offensive zone. He\u2019s played a lot for the Flames, played a lot of hard minutes for their team. And we think he\u2019s really going to add to our hockey club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that he\u2019s going to help our team speed by being able to move the puck and transport the puck, either carrying it or passing it,\u201d McCrimmon continued. \u201cHe can make plays. And I think, to win, there\u2019s a point where you need to have playmakers on your team. He, for me, is a guy who can do that.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Andersson] produces offensively. He\u2019s got a very hard shot, and he creates a lot of offense deep in the offensive zone. He\u2019s one of the top-ranked defensemen at completing plays into the slot,\u201d McCrimmon finished. \u201cAnd I think he really adds to our group.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCrimmon then shifted gears and spoke about who the Golden Knights had to part with: Zach Whitecloud.<\/p>\n

\u201cZach Whitecloud, just a tremendous story,\u201d praised McCrimmon. \u201cHe was a college free agent who played two years in the American Hockey League in Chicago, joined our team, and was a mainstay ever since. Character through the roof; very popular, well-liked teammate. We wish him all the best in Calgary\u2026 I hope he does great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More: WINNER! Golden Knights Trade for Andersson: Grades & Reactions<\/a><\/p>\n

McCrimmon\u2019s relationship with Whitecloud began before he signed with the Golden Knights in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known him since he was a young guy,\u201d McCrimmon continued. \u201cI watched him play bantam hockey, midget hockey, junior hockey, college hockey, and was really proud of him being able to accomplish what he did in our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCrimmon said Whitecloud\u2019s character even extended to their conversation about the trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, speaking with Zach, he could not have been classier,\u201d finished McCrimmon. \u201cHe was obviously disappointed\u2013 loved everything about playing in Las Vegas, the organization, his teammates\u2013 but he understands. He was very gracious of his time here, as we are to him, with the time that he spent in our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCrimmon confirmed that the Golden Knights had spoken with the Flames last offseason. He ultimately decided to strike now because Andersson\u2019s trade timeline was unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people thought that, leading into the Olympic break, there might be a lot more activity,\u201d said McCrimmon. \u201cAnd when you go through all the rosters of the teams going to the Olympics, the one prominent player from those teams that might be on the move was Rasmus Andersson. So, his timeline, in some respects, was a little bit different than some of the other players that might be traded along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve felt for a while that the longest Calgary would go before trading Rasmus would be the Olympic break. Because I don\u2019t think, if you\u2019re in their position, you want the player going to the Olympics, potentially risking an injury that would cost them a significant opportunity,\u201d McCrimmon finished.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman reported that Andersson preferred Vegas as a landing spot. That clearly hadn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really excited to be joining our team,\u201d said McCrimmon.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tHannah Kirkell is a beat writer covering the Vegas Golden Knights for Vegas Hockey Now on Sportsnaut. She studied … More about Hannah Kirkell<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, Vegas Golden Knights General Manager Kelly McCrimmon met with the media prior to the team\u2019s\u00a02-1 loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[26,149,5317,5,4,4433,3327,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-417309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-calgary-flames","9":"tag-golden-knights","10":"tag-goldenknights","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-nhl-trade","14":"tag-rasmus-andersson","15":"tag-vegas","16":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","17":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115925837793436794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417309","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=417309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}