Is the trade market heating up on Flames’ Rasmus Andersson?

At some point, the Calgary Flames are going to have to enter seller mode. Despite some internal resistance to the idea, the reality of the standings will ultimately lead to general manager Craig Conroy moving out some veterans to acquire draft capital and young talent.

At 13-17-4, Calgary is sixth place in the Pacific Division, but still lies far outside the playoff picture with their 30 points putting them seven behind the current cutline.

Conroy will have some of the most desirable players on the market at his disposal to bring in assets. Center Nazem Kadri would bring Cup-winning pedigree to any contender, and then there’s defenseman Rasmus Andersson, whose name has long been in trade rumors and speculation.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by NHL insider David Pagnotta to discuss whether or not Andersson could be on the move soon.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Rasmus Andersson; the trade market really kicked it into high gear in the last six days here. Does that mean Calgary’s starting to sniff around? Is the market on Andersson heating up?

David Pagnotta: It is in the sense that teams are reaching out, and not just to Calgary, there are other teams now that Quinn Hughes is out of the mix that are looking to see who could potentially be available. Is it a top-four guy like Rasmus Andersson? Do we look to San Jose and try to figure out what they’re doing with four, five defensemen on expiring contracts? I think they’ll be active later on, but this is due diligence time… Rasmus Andersson is right at the top of the list. There are a lot of people that don’t expect him to stay in Calgary… and quite frankly I don’t know what’s changed for him to change his mind.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…