{"id":101704,"date":"2025-08-27T21:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/101704\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T21:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:20:07","slug":"flames-seem-set-to-trade-rasmus-andersson-per-teammate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/101704\/","title":{"rendered":"Flames Seem Set To Trade Rasmus Andersson, Per Teammate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trade rumors surrounding Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson<\/a> are reaching a peak as the 2025-26 season rolls around. Flames centerman Mikael Backlund<\/a> said that Andersson seems to be clearly headed for a change of teams during the NHL\u2019s European Media Tour, as captured by Micahel Russo of The Athletic<\/a>. Backlund went into depth on the divide between Calgary and the top-pair defenseman, sharing that the two sides are at ends on what a new contract should look like. Andersson will enter unrestricted-free agency next summer, and is looking for a boost over his current $4.55MM cap hit, while the Flames are looking for a value deal. Backlund told Russo:<\/p>\n

Yeah, [Andersson is] getting traded. It\u2019s obvious\u2026 I talked to him, too, and he doesn\u2019t want to be a distraction\u2026 It\u2019s too bad that it\u2019s come to this. I don\u2019t think that they\u2019re close to getting an agreement, but you never know. Things could change.<\/p>\n

Backlund seems among the most informed when it comes to changes within the Calgary organization. He\u2019s spent all 1,066 games, and 17 seasons, of his NHL career in a Flames jersey. The Flames named Backlund team captain in 2023, after five years of serving as an alternate captain. Andersson has also served as an assistant captain as far back as 2022, cementing a clear connection between the two teammates.<\/p>\n

Backlund\u2019s comments ring loud as a result. Andersson has appeared to be the odd-man-left ever since general manager Craig Conroy<\/a> completed a fire sale of trades in 2023 and 2024. The flurry moved out defenders Chris Tanev<\/a>, Nikita Zadorov<\/a>, and Noah Hanifin<\/a> \u2013 leaving Andersson as the only long-term Flame left on the team\u2019s blue-line. He has since been supported by veteran MacKenzie Weegar<\/a> and emerging pro Kevin Bahl<\/a>, playing ahead of an otherwise very fluid Calgary defense.<\/p>\n

This news spells even more changes for the Flames\u2019 defense. There will be no preparing for losing a player of Andersson\u2019s caliber, even despite rumors swirling through the last few seasons. He has emerged as a true top-pair offensive-defenseman, capable of driving play and sustaining offensive chances for his side, even amid poor defensive play. Andersson tied his career-high of 11 goals this past season, to go along with 31 points on the full year. It was a slight dip from his scoring totals over the last few year. He previously scored 50 points in the 2021-22 season, 49 points in 2022-23, and 39 points in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

These comments will once again spark what\u2019s been an aggressive trade market<\/a> for Andersson. Calgary has fielded interest from across the NHL, with teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes previously emerging as front-runners. There has also been rumors of a fit with Pacific Division clubs like the Los Angeles Kings or Vegas Golden Knights, should the Flames be comfortable with moving Andersson to a nearby foe. Vegas will notably be without top defender Alex Pietrangelo<\/a> next season due to injury, creating a clear hole in their lineup. The Golden Knights would need to find roughly $1MM in cap space to afford Andersson\u2019s cap hit, assuming Calgary would be willing to retain a maximum 50-percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trade rumors surrounding Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson are reaching a peak as the 2025-26 season rolls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,762,48,58711,4247,448,36306,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-101704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mikael-backlund","12":"tag-newsstand","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-rasmus-andersson","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}