SDPN: (YouTube) Chris Johnston and Julian McKenzie on The Chris Johnston Show talking about Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson, and where things stand with his situation.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
McKenzie: “So in terms of going back to your tweet and going back to teams with, with who could be on, who could be making a move, or whatever. I have to go back to Calgary and Rasmus Anderson because I still find it really fascinating, considering the fact that he could be available.
And there was that window potentially around the draft, where they could make a move. Maybe this is another window, but we know the Flames, they seem very content on letting him just play this situation out. And him going into training camp being a flame, as they’ve done with so many other previous free agents, guys like Elias Lindholm come to mind. Nikita Zadorov. Chris Tanev. They’re willing to do this again.
Very curious, obviously, if Rasmus does end up coming up, but seems like I’m not gonna be surprised with him starting training camp in the Flames uniform.
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Johnston: “Yeah, which is an interesting call. I mean, look, he has a lot of power in this situation, just because he’s one year out from UFA. And as we saw, for example, with the Noah Dobson trade to Montreal. You know, when a player, you can get more in the return if that player is willing to sign an extension, where, where the trades happening, right? It’s all part of the deal. And Dobson’s case ended up being a pure sign and trade. So he even got the eight-year as part of that.
You know, Andersson, as our colleague Pierre Lebrun reported, at this point in time, only appears that he wants to sign an extension in Vegas if that comes by a trade. Now, that knowledge can maybe snuff out the trade market a little bit from Calgary’s end, because you can’t take him around to five other teams and say, you know, if it’s known that he doesn’t want to sign with those teams. I think that they’re less likely to part with significant assets to get them. So I think that’s a dynamic at play.
And I know Craig Conroy dresses in local media, and he said he wasn’t aware that it was only one team. But, you know, I don’t want to get in the middle of all that. I would just say that, you know, Pierre, Pierre LeBrun’s name stands for itself. I’m sure he didn’t pull that idea just out of the clear blue sky.
So you know that that will be an interesting dynamic all around. I mean, Andersson, to me, where you, where you’re at, where the Flames are at, they have to, they have to get a good return for someone like that. This is a player they drafted and developed. He’s been an important part of their team. I think certainly, it seems as though everything is is on a pretty good level there. Like, like, the relationship, I mean, between the player and the team.
Like, there were, they’re pulling on the same rope, in a sense, but it doesn’t mean they want the same things. And so I think it’s a critical decision, how the Flames manage that. Does the offer, do the offers truly get better at the deadline? Especially if he only wants to go to one place. I mean, I think they got to get a handle on that, if he truly only is only going to go to Vegas and sign an extension there, I mean, I would argue you’re probably best just to make the best deal you can.
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Now, sometimes let, let time play on, and let’s see, let’s see where things wind up. I mean, certainly, I still think a team like the Dallas Stars could use an upgrade on their right side. I think Anderson, you know, would make a lot of sense for them if, if they could make that deal happen. Of course, Dallas is hamstrung a little bit to some degree by the cap, you know. Would probably need to be accompanied by other, other moves to make that work. Although, you know, Andersson’s cap hit for next season itself is less than $5 million.
So obviously, in the extension he signs, will be more than that, and he’ll be a pricier player, starting in 2026. But for the remainder of his contract, that’s, that’s, that’s a cap it most teams could, could find a way to put onto their team. Especially someone who’s going to play in the top four of their blue line on the right side.
So, you know, he’s a great trade asset for Calgary. But how they navigate this, I think, will be fascinating. You’re right. I get the same sense you do Julian that, you know, it seems as though they’re comfortable just to be calm. I mean, and look, they’ve played that in the past, right from Chris Tanev to Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov. Like all players, this is a couple seasons ago now, but they, they brought them into that their final year, their contracts. And just, you know, basically, at one point it was like Flames board was the trade board. If you remember, on the Athletic it was like the …
McKenzie: “I remember those days. I remember those day.”
Johnston: “Jacob Markstrom at the time was on there too. You know, like it would, they had a lot of, they had a lot of talented players, and, quite frankly, all of them ended up being traded.
But, you know, they happened on a different timeline than, you know, it’s not always good to operate at the end of a gun, if you know what I’m saying. Like to feel like you have to make a move on July 6th, July 7th, July 8th. I mean, the truth is, they don’t, so we’ll have to see how that develops.
I don’t have a sense that anything’s cooking there right now. But there’s, again, there’s, there’s a ton of time here before training camps get going for, you know, Vegas, to circle back, and the Flames to see if maybe there’s something that could work for them.
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And, you know, but you know, the other side of it is the Golden Knights have made a series of moves here. They’ve signed Mitch Marner. You know, they, they would have to figure out the cap end of it too. And it’s gets harder and harder the closer you get to the season, because there’s just less, there’s there’s less things you can do as that season gets closer.
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