Flames’ Rasmus Andersson loves playing in Calgary but understands ‘that it’s a business’

It’s clear that Rasmus Andersson would like to remain in a Calgary Flames uniform.

On Friday afternoon, Eric Francis wrote a great article for Sportsnet with some interesting quotes from Flames’ defenceman Rasmus Andersson. However, the most notable one was:

I love playing [in Calgary] and I’ve always loved playing here and that’s never going to change.

(Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson also published a piece interviewing Andersson that’s well worth your time.)

At the end of the day, the right-shot defenceman understands it’s a business and that if the Flames wish to trade him, there’s not much he can do as he has a six-team no-trade list. It appears he doesn’t want to head to the Edmonton Oilers or Vancouver Canucks though, as he says he hates both of the Flames’ rivals.

Last season, there were a ton of rumours throughout the season involving many of the Flames’ soon-to-be free agents. Before the trade deadline, Noah Hanifin was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, Chris Tanev was traded to the Dallas Stars, and Elias Lindholm was traded to Vancouver. Prior to the 2024 draft, netminder Jacob Markström was traded to the New Jersey Devils.

In the end, the Flames finished with a 38-39-5 record with 81 points, 17 points out of the post-season. However, they only ended up picking up ninth in the 2024 draft, selecting right-shot defenceman Zayne Parekh.

This season has been a different story for the Flames. Midway through the season, they have a 19-14-7 record with 45 points, just one point out of the final wild card spot occupied by the Canucks.

Andersson has been a big reason for their success. The right-shot defenceman has six goals and 18 points in 40 games while playing top-pairing minutes, being a power play quarterback, and killing penalties. His career-high in goals came just two seasons ago when he scored 11, while his career-high of 50 points came in 2021-22.

If the Flames decide to go down the selling path, it’ll be a seller’s market as there are plenty of teams in or around the playoff hunt. On top of that, Andersson is on a team-friendly contract, as he makes $4.55 million annually until the end of the 2025-26 season. (Should he and the Flames decide to continue their very fruitful relationship together, he would be eligible to sign a contract extension as of July 1, 2025.)

It seems unlikely the Flames will go full seller mode as they did last season unless the next two months are a disaster. If they end up deciding to sell though, moving Andersson could set them up nicely for the future.