Five trade destinations to watch for Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson
There’s little doubt that Rasmus Andersson is one of the top players on the trade market this year.
Daily Faceoff head honcho Matt Larkin put Andersson at the very top of his Trade Board on Wednesday, echoing the sentiments expressed by virtually every NHL insider over the past 12 months. Between MacKenzie Weegar, Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz, the Calgary Flames have way too many right-handed defenders to justify paying Andersson what he wants over the next seven or eight years. A trade is on the horizon, and even Flames captain Mikael Backlund has seen it coming a mile away.
The Flames have had no shortage of potential suitors for Andersson since last offseason, but they have yet to pull the trigger on a deal. We’ll just have to wait and see whether that changes between now and the Winter Olympics, where Andersson will represent his native Sweden. One thing’s for sure: Flames GM Craig Conroy won’t be letting Andersson walk for nothing as an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Here’s a closer look at five potential trade destinations for Andersson, who has nine goals and 27 points in 43 games with the Flames this season.
Dallas Stars
It seems as though everyone in Calgary has been mocking up Andersson-to-Dallas trades for the last year. And it makes sense. If there’s one thing the Dallas Stars have in spades, it’s left-handed defensemen; if there’s one thing they need above all else, it’s a capable righty to pair with one of them.
The Stars have expended significant energy in shoring up their right side over the last two seasons, to varying degrees of success. The Chris Tanev acquisition in 2024 worked out reasonably well, but the Cody Ceci experience last year was more of an adventure. In any event, Stars general manager Jim Nill now has an opportunity to pursue more of a long-term fix in Andersson as opposed to yet another rental.
While there’s no question about the Stars being a playoff team with strong Stanley Cup aspirations, they could still use a bit of a shot in the arm after going 4-3-3 in their last 10 games. It remains to be seen whether they can meet Andersson’s contractual ask while also fitting a new deal for Jason Robertson under the salary cap moving forward, but the one thing Dallas doesn’t lack is solid trade assets: Mavrik Bourque, Lian Bichsel, Emil Hemming, and Tristan Bertucci, to name a few.
Carolina Hurricanes
Another team with a firm grasp on a playoff spot but skidding a little bit through the midway point of the season, the Carolina Hurricanes have won back-to-back games but are still only 4-5-1 in their last 10. They’ve been able to control one of the top spots in the Metropolitan Division this year despite going without Jaccob Slavin for all but five games thus far, but they could also use another capable hand on the right side.
Two seasons ago, the Hurricanes had Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Brent Burns, and Dmitry Orlov on their blueline. Today, those four guys are all gone, and while the ‘Canes have brought in K’Andre Miller, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Sean Walker, while also promoting Alexander Nikishin, they could still use a true minute-munching right-hander to complement Slavin when he gets back. Andersson isn’t quite as sturdy defensively as Pesce was in his Carolina heyday, but he’s a more well-rounded player who would likely thrive offensively in the Hurricanes’ high-scoring system. But whether they have room for him, with Walker, Gostisbehere, and Jalen Chatfield now all making decent chunks of change, is a valid question — one that could be answered by Calgary taking one of them back in a deal. The Flames still need to ice a team, after all.
The Hurricanes have made just one first-round pick in the last five drafts (Bradly Nadeau in 2023), but they do have four in the next three, which they might be inclined to use in a deal for a potential long-term piece like Andersson. Other possible trade chips include 2025 second-rounders Charlie Cerrato and Ivan Ryabkin, but the Hurricanes’ oft-lauded prospect pool doesn’t have much to offer at this point.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Of course, Carolina still has a much better collection of prospects and draft picks than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have nonetheless been at the forefront of much of the Canadian media coverage surrounding the Andersson market thus far. Leafs GM Brad Treliving drafted Andersson during his time in Calgary and signed him to his current six-year deal; it tracks that Treliving would be enormously interested in reuniting with the 29-year-old Swede, especially with Chris Tanev’s season reportedly in jeopardy.
The Leafs have two major factors working against them if they truly wish to acquire Andersson, and they both have plenty to do with Treliving. First and foremost, his Leafs already parted with a ton of assets last season, giving up multiple first-round picks and prospects to acquire Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton. As it stands, the Leafs don’t have another first-rounder until 2028, and they only possess three 2026 draft picks in total. Aside from Easton Cowan and Ben Danford, there’s almost nothing of note in Toronto’s pipeline.
It’ll be very difficult for the Leafs to present the Flames with a competitive offer, and that’s not just because of their lack of picks and prospects. The Flames have conspicuously not made a deal with the Leafs since Treliving left for Toronto in 2023, with rumors and speculation abound that Treliving will have to pay a considerably higher price than other GMs to acquire any players from his former team. It’s no wonder the Flames would want Matthew Knies from Toronto, cosmically unlikely as it is that they’d get him.
Detroit Red Wings
There’s been plenty of chatter linking Andersson with the Detroit Red Wings in recent weeks, with the veteran Swede looking like a perfect fit on paper for Detroit’s surging (but inexperienced) team. The Red Wings have an excellent top pairing of Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson, but the rest of their defensive group certainly leaves a thing or two to be desired, and it’s easy to imagine Steve Yzerman wanting to upgrade at the position as his team aims to end its decade-long playoff drought.
Being a team that’s only just exiting a rebuild, the Red Wings actually have a decent stockpile of draft picks and prospects to part with in a potential Andersson deal. You can bet the Flames would love to add a certain Nate Danielson, the No. 9 overall pick from 2023 who has skated in 28 NHL games this season. Danielson is a big Alberta boy and a right-handed center — in short, a dream come true for Conroy. He’d be a great piece for the Flames.
Danielson isn’t the only prospect the Flames would set their sights on, with Carter Bear, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Eddie Genborg, and Max Plante each having their own appeal. But the biggest hurdle might be getting Andersson to sign with the Red Wings. They’re finally on the upswing, for sure, but Andersson did suffer a pretty gnarly off-ice injury while riding a scooter in Detroit a couple seasons ago, and he might question whether the Red Wings offer him as good a chance to win as the other teams on this list. But they’re certainly in the mix.
Vegas Golden Knights
And here we are. Dating back to the summer of 2025, when reports started trickling out that Andersson preferred to be traded to the Vegas Golden Knights above all else, fans in Calgary have spent countless hours cooking up mock trades to reunite Andersson with Noah Hanifin, his former defense partner, on the Strip.
There’s just one problem: Calgary didn’t exactly get much from Vegas the last time they hooked up for a deal, but if Andersson decides to flex his muscles and limit which teams he’d be willing to sign an extension with (as Hanifin did in 2024), the Flames might be stuck with another underwhelming return. When they traded Hanifin to Vegas, the Flames received a 2026 first-round pick, a 2024 third-round pick (Kirill Zarubin), and depth defenseman Daniil Miromanov.
The Golden Knights are always in on everyone, sometimes to their own detriment. But they’re surprisingly flush with their own draft picks going forward, save for their own 2026 first (Calgary already has it) and fourth (traded for Anthony Mantha in 2024). The Knights also have a prospect right up the Flames’ alley in Jacob Ihs-Wozniak, their 2025 second-round pick and a 6’2″ right-shot center. But above all else, the Knights have a glaring need for a top-end right-hander to fill the void left by Alex Pietrangelo, who likely won’t play in the NHL again despite having 18 months left on his contract. As much as Flames fans might dread the prospect of another disappointing deal with Vegas, they might be in a better position this time around.
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