How Rasmus Andersson is both right and wrong for the Maple Leafs

Connecting Brad Treliving to every Calgary Flames player from his time with the club seems inevitable at this point. Like Nazem Kadri, like Noah Hanifin, and more successfully, like Chris Tanev, it’s easy to say a GM who liked a player once is highly likely to be interested in them again. There’s the significant issue of whether the relationship with the Flames is so fractured at this point that Brad Treliving is consistently being sent to voicemail or has his number blocked at this point, but the reality is the Flames want to maximize their value on a player they know isn’t interested in being on their team next season. They’d listen to what Treliving and will take the best offer they receive.

The Rasmus Andersson to the Maple Leafs talk started on Thursday’s Leafs Morning Take when Jay Rosehill shared “I got a guy within the league who says the Toronto Maple Leafs are actively trying hard to get Rasmus Andersson out of Calgary.”

For a Leafs team that is struggling defensively, has an older blueline, and has a hockey operations department that is under pressure to win now, exploring Rasmus Andersson as a target seems like a no brainer. Except it isn’t actually a no brainer.

By the numbers, Rasmus Andersson is absolutely a strong defenceman with a manageable cap hit this season, and even though he’s a rental, the Maple Leafs have the cap space for next season to make him a substantial offer to keep him with the Leafs for as long as they like. He’s a right shot. He blocks shots and eats minutes. He’s also the heavy point shot the Leafs could throw on their top powerplay unit. There’s not a lot of selling required on the fact that Rasmus Andersson is a good defenceman and because of that, in many ways he’s right for the Maple Leafs.

Where you can make the case for the Maple Leafs not being in on Rasmus Andersson is that the Maple Leafs do not look like a team that is one player away from making it work and there is going to be an expensive price to be paid to bring him in. Given the crossroads the Maple Leafs are at this season, it is debatable that losing a prospect like Ben Danford or Easton Cowan is in the Leafs best interest as the need to retool/rebuild the roster is coming up faster than the Maple Leafs would like, and preparing for the Knies/Cowan/Danford core era will need more youthful support that the Maple Leafs can’t keep on sacrificing.

Toronto is without their next two first round picks, and they’ve made a limited number of first round picks in the past few seasons too. This season isn’t screaming “go for it.” If you are looking at what Rasmus Andersson could bring long term to the Maple Leafs, it is probably worth considering that by next season he too would be 30-year-old defenceman on the Maple Leafs with an expensive contract and declining returns. Rasmus Andersson might be one of the better/younger 30+ options on that Maple Leafs roster, but if they aren’t sending out others to make room for him and some youth, it looks like a problem getting worse for the Maple Leafs.

Darren Dreger shared on Barn Burner that the Maple Leafs were close to getting Rasmus Andersson last deadline, so that interest is pretty well established, but with that point also comes the fact that Flames already backed out of a deal with the Maple Leafs once already and that came at a time when the Leafs had more assets to offer up than they do presently. Factoring in an unwilling Flames team, a Leafs team that are spinning their tires to start the season, and the Leafs not having anything to offer up or anything they should offer up, a trade seems like a bad idea.

Having said all of that, 2026-27 is a different beast. Rasmus Andersson is a good hockey player, and the Maple Leafs do have cap space to make a splash. They would be putting themselves behind the eight ball by not acquiring him in season and re-signing Andersson before he hits free agency, but that gamble preserves assets, and the Leafs need to do that. Overcommitting on this season would be a bad gamble for the Maple Leafs and taking a look at what Matthews, Tanev, Woll, and Stolarz look like in the next few weeks is probably required before Toronto considers any next steps.

If the Leafs are committing to just letting this season play out, Brad Treliving needs to hint that MLSE’s cheque book will be open and ready to put in work on July 1st so pending unrestricted free agents like Andersson know there is money on the table.

Data from Natural Stat Trick