Grading the Rasmus Andersson trade: Vegas bets big, Flames become asset-richer
In a widely foreseen move that finally came to fruition on Saturday afternoon, the Calgary Flames have traded pending UFA defenseman Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for a package of four assets.
The Swedish Olympian and 10-year NHL veteran is in the midst of one of his strongest seasons to date, with a massive new contract almost assuredly in the offing. Being one of the NHL’s worst teams, the Flames weren’t in any real position to pay commensurate value to retain Andersson into his 30s. Now, he’ll have a real shot of winning a Stanley Cup — and earning big, big money — in Sin City.
We’ve all been waiting for this deal to come down the pipe for some time. Now, it’s finally here, which means it’s time for another edition of Trade Grades!
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Receive:
D Rasmus Andersson, 29 – $2.275-million cap hit (50% retained, down from $4.55 million) through 2026
We’d been hearing about the mutual interest between Andersson and the Knights dating back to last summer, when the Flames initially started fielding pitches for the 29-year-old defenseman. Now, after a seemingly interminable wait, the deal is done — and the Knights got their guy.
Vegas sorely needed another right-handed defenseman after losing Alex Pietrangelo to what appears to be a career-ending hip injury. Andersson was the best righty available, and he also happens to have an extensive history of skating alongside Knights lefty Noah Hanifin, who spent parts of six seasons with the Flames earlier in his career. Although there’s no contract extension for Andersson as part of this deal, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see those two spend quite a few more years playing together with the Knights.
Andersson is a strong two-way defenseman who has a heavy shot and loves to skate with the puck. He’s logged significantly more than 20 minutes per game in each of his last six seasons in Calgary, with his average ice time so far this year reaching a career-high 24:14. As the Flames’ No. 1 power-play quarterback in their Pacific Division-winning 2021-22 campaign, Andersson scored a career-high 50 points; he’s on pace to eclipse that mark this season with 30 points already (including 10 goals) through 48 games.
Sure, the Knights gave up multiple picks in the deal, but that’s not exactly new for them. The Knights have long since bucked the typical NHL convention of building contenders through the draft — they’re all about adding the biggest star pieces they can through trades and free agency, acquisition costs be damned. An interesting thing to look out for is how Vegas will manage the loss of Zach Whitecloud (more on him later): Andersson is the much better player, but the Knights heavily leaned upon Whitecloud to manage shutdown situations.
In total, the Knights did what they set out to do. If they can get Andersson signed to a reasonable extension — and there’s no reason to believe they won’t — this deal should age extremely well.
Grade: A
CALGARY FLAMES
Receive:
D Zach Whitecloud, 29 – $2.75-million cap hit through 2028
D Abram Wiebe, 22 – Unsigned draft pick
2027 first-round pick
2028 second-round pick (conditional)
First and foremost, it’s worth taking a moment to recap the last couple of years in Calgary. After their retool around Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and MacKenzie Weegar backfired on them in the 2022-23 season, the Flames embarked on something of a fire sale the following year, trading Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Andrew Mangiapane, and Jacob Markstrom over the span of approximately eight months. It was one of the most aggressive single-year teardowns we’ve seen from one team in recent memory, and it set the stage for more of the same to happen in the following seasons.
If the Flames had wanted to trade Andersson for maximum value, their best bet to do so likely would’ve been at the 2024 NHL Draft, around which they also flipped Markstrom and Mangiapane. But instead, they opted to take it slow — after all, they’d just dealt more than a half-dozen players, and Andersson still had two more years on his deal. Then, the Flames surprised the hockey world by not being completely terrible in 2024-25, finishing just outside the playoff picture despite a bit of a rocky year from Andersson himself.
Through all this, the Flames remained open to the idea of extending Andersson, whose existing six-year deal is set to expire at the end of the 2025-26 season. But when it became clear this past summer that a new contract between the two sides would not be happening, the writing was on the wall. Andersson managed just 31 points in 81 games during the 2024-25 season and also posted a brutal minus-38 rating; this year, he’s on pace to eclipse his career high in points and has been one of the best 5-on-5 performers on Calgary’s roster. If there were any questions about Andersson’s value on and off the ice last season, they’ve all but disappeared now.
Before their big 2023-24 fire sale, the Flames had only ever made multiple first-round picks in the same draft once, in 2013. Now, they’ve done it in each of the last two years, and they’re set to do it again both in 2026 and 2027. Furthermore, the condition on the 2028 second-round pick in the deal means that if Vegas wins the Stanley Cup this year, that pick gets upgraded to the Knights’ 2028 first-round selection.
Whitecloud is also an interesting piece for the Flames, who still have a bit of a logjam on their blue line. He’s certainly the tertiary piece in the deal behind the two picks, but he’s a good defensive righty whose presence in the deal also makes the finances largely even on both sides. The Flames now have Whitecloud under contract for the next two seasons after this one, meaning he could be another piece for them to flip for assets in due time. Abram Wiebe, the prospect in the deal, plays with Flames prospects Cole Reschny and Cade Littler and skates on a pairing with top 2026 draft prospect Keaton Verhoeff at the University of North Dakota.
The Flames needed to get picks out of this deal, and they did just that. Just the fact that they won’t be paying a veteran defender deep into his 30s is a win on its own. On its face, it’s a perfectly solid deal for Flames GM Craig Conroy, but it’s difficult not to think he could’ve done a little better here by pulling the trigger on an Andersson deal a couple of years ago.
Grade: B+
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