Flames’ Rasmus Andersson listed sixth on Daily Faceoff’s trade targets board

Folks, one of the reasons we love the National Hockey League’s off-season is the sheer amount of change that teams go through. Sure, there’s the NHL Draft, but surrounding the draft there’s the annual free agency frenzy and a ton of trades as the NHL’s clubs seek to remake themselves in an effort to work towards a Stanley Cup championship.

Over at Daily Faceoff, Frank Seravalli has compiled his first off-season edition of his Trade Targets board, highlighting 20 players that could be in for a change of scenery. As he heads towards a very important 2025-26 season, Calgary Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson checks in at sixth on Seravalli’s rundown.

Here’s Seravalli’s rundown of why Andersson is sixth on the board:

Scoop: This is where the rubber meets the road for Rasmus Andersson in Calgary. Fish or cut bait? Andersson presents great trade value, even after a relatively down year, for a right-shooting defenseman with an edge, double-digit goal scoring ability and a very reasonable cap hit. The Flames aren’t in a rush. They’d have no problem hanging onto him until the trade deadline to potentially watch his stock rise even higher.

A second-round pick by the Flames way back in 2015, Andersson is a right shot blueliner that has become a fixture in the club’s lineup since becoming a full-time NHLer back in 2018-19. Since breaking into the NHL, Andersson has evolved from a pretty good third-pairing defender into a fixture in the top two defensive pairings and a go-to player in basically every game situation.

Andersson had 11 goals and 31 points through 81 games with the Flames in 2024-25. In his career, he has 47 goals and 231 points through 536 games, all with the Flames. In franchise history, Andersson is seventh in games played among blueliners and eighth in points. He’s good!

So why would the Flames want to move on from him? Andersson’s entering the final year of a six year deal that pays him $4.55 million against the salary cap. So two things are probably true: Andersson is incredibly cost-effective right now for what he brings to a hockey club, and his compensation should go way up after his contract expires on July 1, 2026. Fair market value for him on a long-term deal, based on his experience level and production, is probably around $8 million per season.

We can debate the merits of paying Andersson fair market value until the cows come home, but if you’re the Flames and you perhaps decide that the number Andersson’s camp wants on a long-term deal isn’t quite what you had in mind, perhaps you do what you’ve done recently with the majority of veteran players approaching unrestricted free agency and see what you could get for him in the trade market.

The Flames will probably have a better sense of Andersson’s hopes, dreams and aspirations on his next contract in the next little while – Andersson said during media exit interviews that he was probably going to think about it after the World Championships – and so if rubber hits the road for the Flames, wheels could start turning in the run-up to the NHL Draft at the end of June.

We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks and months.