The Calgary Flames traded Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday. Caglary retained 50 percent of Andersson’s salary in exchange for Zach Whitecloud, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 conditional second-round pick (can become a first if Vegas wins the Stanley Cup this year), and prospect Abram Wiebe.
However, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet told Pat Steinberg, Wes Gilbertson & Logan Gordon on Flames Talk on Sportsnet 960 The Fan, Andersson and his camp had indicated to GM Craig Conroy that he wasn’t signing an extension with any team that he was traded to.
NHL Trade: The Calgary Flames Trade Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Pat Steinberg: “Elliotte, really appreciate the time. Won’t keep you too long on short notice, and I know you had a long day on Hockey Day in Canada on Saturday. So really appreciate the time. It’s good to talk to you, my friend. I know you’ve been grinding on this one for quite some time. How did this all come about on this Sunday?”
Elliotte Friedman: “Well, I think the key thing is that I understand that Andersson indicated Sunday that he would not be signing an extension with anybody at this time. So that knocked out Boston. I don’t think they were willing to pay what it was going to cost them to get this deal done without the guarantee of an extension.
And I’m not really sure what happened over the past couple of days, but yesterday, when I was working on this, everybody seemed to be under the idea that Andersson would potentially sign with the Bruins. But I think the Bruins got to a point where they needed to know one way or the other: are we doing this or are we moving on? And today, I think the information was given out that he wouldn’t be signing an extension. And once that happened, the pendulum swung to the Golden Knights.
NHL Rumors: A Rasmus Andersson Trade May Be Drawing Nearer
You know, Pat, you’re in Calgary. The Golden Knights tried to get him last year around the draft. They really liked him. I think he really liked the idea of potentially playing for them. And Vegas was always in a position, as I mentioned, the last couple of days that they could, they were willing to do this without a guarantee of an extension, because they thought they could sign him.
And I think when you look at the other teams that were potentially involved in this, and I think Boston was, I think Dallas was, I think Toronto was, I’m assuming there were some others that I’m not really aware of.
But I think once the extension, part of it went away, I think Vegas was in a really good spot. I don’t know what the Stars ended up doing at the end. I think they also would have done it without the guarantee of an extension. But looking at this offer, I just, I don’t know that I saw Dallas beating it.”
Flames GM Craig Conroy on Flames Talk: “I was informed this morning that he wasn’t going to sign with any team, so any deals I was doing would be a rental … Some teams were open to the idea of bringing him in, letting him see what the city was like and then make a decision. But in the end, I felt like Vegas had the best offer on the table.”
NHL Rumors: Vegas Golden Knights Looking at Centers
“It’s his total right to say he’s not going to sign right now. I respect that, and him and his agent were good enough to let me know instead of wasting time moving forward with teams maybe thinking they could get him signed. We just wanted to get the best possible return that we thought we could get.”
NHLRumors.com Note: From the beginning with the Boston Bruins, GM Don Sweeney had a history of getting an extension done with players he acquires who are UFAs. As much as the Bruins wanted him, the extension was a must. Despite the Bruins being the clubhouse leader, the Vegas Golden Knights had the edge because they were willing to let him go without an extension, as GM Kelly McCrimmon knew he could sign him, as he did with Noah Hanifin.
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