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K’Andre Miller, potentially no longer of the New York Rangers (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Flames Should Seriously Consider a K’Andre Miller-Rasmus Andersson Swap

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Cody Gzowski | Last updated Jun 8, 2025 9:25 AM ET

This week, during the NHL Draft Combine, there were reports that New York Rangers’ left-handed restricted free agent (RFA) defenceman K’Andre Miller was on the trade block. Meanwhile, Calgary Flames top defenceman Rasmus Andersson’s contract is expiring in the summer of 2026. In order to continue the rebuild and move towards a better future, the Flames should seriously consider trading for Miller’s negotiation rights.

Flames Have a Right-Handed Defencemen Problem

The Flames currently have seven defencemen under NHL contract, with one RFA and one prospect likely to make the jump to the NHL full-time. The majority of them are right-handed.

Flames Right-Handed Defencemen

Flames Left-Handed Defencemen

This two-to-one split also carries with it the issue of ice-time and pairing matchups: Bean, Solovyov, and Bahl alike all hit their ceilings on a middling second pair, while the Flames’ best defencemen and their best defensive prospects are all right-handers. This means that if the Flames want to play all their best right-handers, they must either play them on their weak side (as Weegar has been doing much of the 2024-25 season, with Miromanov on his strong side) or play them with significantly weaker accompaniment, or both.

This problem will be exacerbated next season as Zayne Parekh and likely Hunter Brzustewicz make their full-time NHL debuts (from “Flames prospect Hunter Brzustewicz showing growth on the farm, even as numbers dip,” Calgary Herald, Nov. 27, 2024). Both players played only one NHL game last season, the finale against the LA Kings — Andersson didn’t play after suffering most of the previous month with a broken foot, the Miromanov-Weegar pairing remained, and Brzustewicz played with another right-hander as well. If the defence is fully healthy next season and intends on playing both Parekh and Brzustewicz, then sacrifices will have to be made and pairs switched around. Only six defencemen play any given game, and if two or three of those have to be the Flames’ weaker left-handed core, then the team is going to suffer both short-term and long-term.

The solution to this problem seems relatively straightforward: upgrade on left defence, and clear aging right defence if possible in order to make room for the next generation.

K’Andre Miller Is the Flames’ Perfect Target

Miller is the exact player to fill the described hole: a young, left-handed defenceman who is used to playing big minutes (he is second on the Rangers in average ice-time, after only Adam Fox) and can muster good results both defensively and offensively. Not only that, but the Rangers reportedly don’t want him anymore.

Miller is an RFA heading into the 2025 offseason. In a potential new age of offer sheets, there is a possibility the Flames could snag their guy via offer sheet alone; however, the compensation required for a contract would likely require at least a first-round pick, which Calgary may not be willing to risk. It’s also a possibility — and a more appealing one — that they’re able to trade for Miller’s negotiation rights for much less than a first-rounder, especially given the Flames’ future next season is uncertain enough that that pick could end up almost anywhere in the round. Miller is good, but most players of his calibre don’t tend to fetch first-round picks on the open market anyway.

In the meantime, Miller would immediately stabilize the Flames’ top four. He could act as Weegar’s new partner, allowing Weegar to play his strong side and truly run wild; in New York, Miller and Fox achieved their strongest results of the season when paired together, so he thrives in an environment with another strong defenceman instead of one who he has to “carry.” A potential Miller-Weegar top pair would be the envy of several teams, both inside and out of the playoff picture.

However, his ideal spot is probably as a partner for Parekh. Parekh is very young, and his main issue as a player is his occasional lack of defensive wherewithal; he typically makes up for this by being a powerful offensive dynamo. He’s projected to be an unusually good version of this player, but not altogether a new creation — there are other offence-only defencemen out there, and the known solution is to pair them with a primarily defensive “shutdown” guy. The Flames’ current best option for this is fellow RFA Kevin Bahl — it’s likely Miller would be a significant upgrade on Bahl.

As well as fitting in at even strength, Miller would be a significant upgrade on the penalty kill. Last season, the Flames’ PK sat at an abysmal 76.1%, good for 28th in the league. Miller logged significant minutes on a Rangers’ penalty kill that was effective both as a PK and shorthanded.

Rasmus Andersson Is the Odd Man Out With Or Without Miller

Even without the upside that bringing in Miller would have to the Flames’ blue line, Andersson is fitting in less and less on the team as time goes on. He and Weegar are both veteran, right-handed defencemen used to big minutes and big leverage — and with Weegar locked in for six more years and Andersson an unrestricted free agent (UFA) after this upcoming season, it’s clear which contract is easier to move.

His redundancy is not helped by his diminishing performances; this season, he finished a staggering minus-38, a number which has been decreasing year over year since he finished plus-30 in the Flames’ all-time 2021-22 season. Weegar, meanwhile, finished with a plus-18. Miller had an even plus/minus of zero on a Rangers team that finished 11 points below Calgary in the standings. Plus/minus is not always the best stat, but in cases like this where point production is not the most overt marker of value, it’s helpful — the purpose of a defenceman is to prevent the other team from scoring. Andersson does not appear to be fulfilling that purpose.

A direct swap doesn’t need to happen, but if the Flames are looking to get younger and better, they should seriously consider making moves that will send Andersson out of town and bring in Miller from New York. The Rangers lured away Fox from Calgary; the Flames can take away his defensive partner.