Flames trade defenceman Andersson to Golden Knights for Whitecloud, draft picks

The Calgary Flames will look a bit different moving forward, starting Monday night against the New Jersey Devils. Rasmus Andersson was traded on the weekend.

The Calgary Flames dealt premier defencemen Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights for defenceman Zach Whitecloud and future prospects in a trade announced Sunday.

The Flames also received defensive prospect Abram Wiebe, a first-round pick in 2027 and a conditional second-round pick in 2028 that becomes a first-rounder should Vegas win the Stanley Cup this year.

Calgary retained 50 per cent of Andersson’s salary in the deal announced Sunday by the Flames.

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The 28-year-old Andersson from Malmo, Sweden, has spent his entire NHL career with the Flames, and will represent Sweden in next month’s Olympic Games.

He was in the final year of a six-year contract with an average annual value of US$4.55 million.

With no movement toward an extension, the Flames seemed content to wait for Andersson’s trade stock to rise.

He was one of Calgary’s top performers at the time of the trade with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) and a plus-minus of plus-3 in 48 games. Andersson also averaged a team-leading 24 minutes 14 seconds of ice time per game.

He had 261 points (57-204) over 584 career regular-season games with Calgary.

The Flames (21-23-4) were five points out of a Western Conference wild-card playoff spot Sunday. The Golden Knights (24-11-12) topped the Pacific Division.

Flames general manager Craig Conroy indicated in an interview posted on the club’s website Sunday that Andersson wants to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer.

“To be able to get it done with Vegas, they were willing to do it and do it without a contract because that was one thing that was made clear to us just in the last, maybe 12 hours, was there wasn’t going to be an extension signed with any of the teams,” Conroy said.

“That definitely changed the way we had to negotiate and what we got back in return.”

Whitecloud won a Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023 when he played all 22 post-season games and contributed two goals and six assists.

The 29-year-old from Brandon, Man., has spent his entire NHL career with Vegas and amassed 23 goals and 55 assists in 368 games.

Whitecloud is in the fourth season of a six-year contract with an annual average value of US$2.75 million.

The six-foot-two, 210-pound defenceman played recent games on the Knights’ top pairing with Noah Hanifin, whom Vegas also acquired from Calgary in a 2024 trade.

Calgary holds a first-round pick in the 2026 draft from Vegas that was part of the Hanifin trade.

Whitecloud has two goals and five assists in 47 games, while averaging 18 minutes 46 seconds per game this season.

Wiebe, from Mission, B.C., is in his third season at the University of North Dakota.

The seventh-round pick by Vegas in 2022 has three goals and 11 assists in 24 games this season. Wiebe is six foot three and 203 pounds.

The Flames are at home to the New Jersey Devils on Monday, while the Golden Knights host the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Canadian Press