5 NHL Trade Landing Spots for Rasmus Andersson amid Rumors
At this point, it only seems to be a matter of when, and not if, the Calgary Flames trade defenseman Rasmus Andersson.
Even though the Flames were surprisingly competitive during the 2024-25 season, they are still a team in a transition phase, have traded a lot of veteran players and Andersson is entering the final year of his contract with no sign of an extension on the horizon.
Whether it happens before the season or before the trade deadline, a trade simply seems inevitable.
So with that in mind, let's take a look at what his trade value might be, and the teams that should be interested in him.
What Is Rasmus Anderson's Trade Value?
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Andersson is a legitimate top-pairing defender who can do a little bit of everything. He is a strong defensive presence. He has enough offensive ability to be a 10-goal, 30-40 point player as a defenseman. That's a well-rounded player who is going to have a lot of value.
But when you trade for a player -- or trade a player -- you are not just trading for their production.
You are also trading for their age, their injury history, their contract and every other thing that comes with a player.
Andersson's play alone is worthy of a nice return as a top-pairing, 20-plus-minute per night defender.
He is also still on the right side of 30 and is entering his age-29 season, so he should still have productive years ahead. He's not super young, or necessarily in his prime, but he is not at a point where his play should decline too rapidly, too soon.
The biggest issue is the contract.
Andersson has one year remaining at an extremely affordable salary cap number of just $4.55 million, but is set to be an unrestricted free agent after this season. A new contract extension would probably be a requirement for any team trying to trade for him, or else they run the risk of it being a one-year (or shorter-term) rental.
Even so, a first-round pick would seemingly be a bare minimum requirement.
An additional prospect or young NHL player would also need to be a part of it.
For a Stanley Cup-contending team that needs an upgrade to the right side of its top-four defense, that is a fair price to pay.
So let's take a look at some teams that should be willing to pay it.
Honorable Mentions
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Los Angeles Kings. The Kings' defense has been its biggest strength in recent years. That group has undergone quite a transformation this offseason with Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence leaving, and Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci coming in. They did not upgrade the position, and it still has needs. The problem is the Kings still have needs offensively, and they now have major money invested into sub-par players on defense. Making it work financially and just in terms of logistics with the names they already added would be tough.
Vegas Golden Knights. If there is a big-name player available, the Golden Knights figure to be involved, especially with Alex Pietrangelo's future in serious doubt. The Golden Knights would need to do some serious work with the salary cap to fit in Andersson's contract, but that has never stopped Vegas in the past.
New York Rangers. The Rangers already made big changes to their defense with Gavrikov coming in and K'Andre Miller going out, but that's not enough to fix a defense that has serious issues and has for years. The issue here is that they have already committed to a lot of players on this defense. Are they willing to make more changes before the season begins?
Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs could use some additional help on the right side of their defense, but they have already made a big investment and commitment in Brandon Carlo. Will they be willing to pay premium assets for another veteran defender right now?
5. Montreal Canadiens
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The Canadiens already made one big move to their defense this offseason by adding Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders and then signing him to a long-term contract extension.
Why not add another?
Montreal took a huge step forward in 2024-25 and returned to the playoffs, but they can not simply sit back and expect that progress to continue. While Montreal has an outstanding young core that is getting better -- and rapidly so -- there were still a lot of flaws for this roster, especially when it came to their ability to suppress scoring chances against.
They have to get better defensively.
Dobson adds a big-minute veteran with some big offensive upside, but Andersson would be an outstanding addition for the team's overall defensive play.
When Carey Price's contract gets put on LTIR, there is going to still be some salary cap flexibility, and they also still have a lot of draft pick capital -- including all of their first-round draft picks in the future -- to use as trade bait.
This is a team on the rise, but it still needs to keep adding more big-time talent to really bring things together and help them continue to take steps forward in the Eastern Conference.
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4. Boston Bruins
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What are the Bruins' expectations for 2024-25? What exactly IS this team?
These are good questions and ones that the Bruins themselves might not even know.
Outsiders have been waiting for the Bruins to take a step backwards for a couple of years now, and it finally happened in 2024-25.
The offense is lacking in high-end talent once you get beyond David Pastrnak, and they still need help at center. But the defense is also lacking in quality depth, as they found out a year ago when both Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm missed significant playing time due to injuries.
The return of both players with better health this season will make a world of difference, but they still need a lot more help on the right side, where the depth chart includes only McAvoy, Henri Jokiharju and Andrew Peeke. That's not good enough if the Bruins have any intention of trying to compete this season. And given the way the offseason went, they still have that intention.
3. Carolina Hurricanes
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Does Carolina need Andersson? Or a player like him? No. It would be a luxury.
But here's the great thing about the Hurricanes -- they are in a position where they can afford to go for a luxury, and probably should consider doing so.
The only right-shot defensemen on the roster are Sean Walker and Jalen Chatfield, which is fine. And they can obviously have players play on their off-side. But again ... would it hurt to add somebody like Andersson? Carolina is facing pressure to get over the Eastern Conference Final, and the Hurricanes still have more than $10 million in salary-cap space at their disposal.
This is an all-in year.
Why not go all-in and make another big addition on the blue line? Adding K'Andre Miller and Rasmus Andersson to that defense in one offseason, combined with Nikolaj Ehlers at forward, would make this an incredible roster on paper.
2. Detroit Red Wings
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Speaking of being under pressure to win, say hello to Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings.
The playoff drought is nearing a decade.
It is at six years under Yzerman.
The offseason to this point has been woefully underwhelming, given how far away the team was from contending a year ago and how bad the defense still is.
Moritz Seider is really good.
Simon Edvinsson will almost certainly be really good.
But the rest of this defense? It is not really good, or anything close to it. The Red Wings still have $11.92 million in salary-cap space remaining and have done almost nothing meaningful to make the roster better this offseason. They can not go into the regular season with this group as is and with that much unused salary cap space.
Andersson would be a much-needed upgrade on defense and they almost certainly have the trade assets to get him.
1. Dallas Stars
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The Stars are one of the NHL's best teams, and have been for the past five or six years. They are regulars in the Western Conference Final, have stars and elite players at every level of the roster and should again be a legitimate, bona fide, top-tier Stanley Cup contender for the 2025-26 NHL season.
The roster just has one major weakness.
The right side of the defense.
Rasmus Andersson also happens to play on the right side of the defense.
The gap in talent from Dallas' left side and right side on defense could not be more striking and staggering. On the left side, the Stars have Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley. Tremendous. On the right side, they have Ilya Lyubushkin, Nils Lundkvist and Alexander Petrovic. Not quite as tremendous.
Adding a player like Andersson to the right side as a partner for any of those left-side defenders would create an elite defense pairing and help fix one of the team's biggest weaknesses. They should not be afraid to pay a prospect price or draft pick price to make that happen, because there probably is not a better right-shot defenseman available right now for a better price in terms of salary cap space and potential trade chips. Go get him.
The Stars only have $405,000 in salary-cap space remaining this offseason, so they will need to get creative, but there are always ways to do that, especially if they can pay somebody to take on Lyubushkin's contract in another move.
Get bold. Go for the type of move that can help you win the Stanley Cup this season.
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