Golden Knights willing to take the risk on Rasmus Andersson without an extension

The Vegas Golden Knights made their big swing over the weekend when they completed a long-rumored move to land veteran defenseman Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames.

General manager Kelly McCrimmon paid a hefty price to bolster his blue line, sending defenseman Zach Whitecloud back the other way along with a 2027 first-round pick, a conditional second-round pick that will turn into a 2028 first-round pick if the Knights win the Stanley Cup this season and prospect Abram Wiebe.

Andersson, one of the few prominent pending unrestricted free agents to not sign a contract extension, did not agree to terms on one with Vegas as part of this deal.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed the calculated move from Vegas to take Andersson on without the guarantee of a contract extension.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Vegas acquires Andersson with no extension. Hutts, if there’s one organization in the NHL who can, in air quotes, “take the risk” of acquiring a player like this and paying that price without an extension, it’s Vegas. Because at the end of the day, if they want to sign him this summer, there’s no way Rasmus Andersson goes anywhere else. There’s been talk about him wanting to be a Golden Knight for more than a year now. I like that Vegas didn’t really concern themselves with the cost or the extension, they just went out and made themseles better.

Carter Hutton: Yeah, 100%, and he’s having a great year, too, that’s the other thing. This is a guy that’s going to settle right in here. He’s going to have the ability to produce more. He has that offensive upside, right? His career-high, two time’s he’s hit 11 goals. This year, he’s already got 10… He brings a little bit of flair too.

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