On Sunday, while most of America was watching the New England Patriots defeat the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Round, the Vegas Golden Knights traded for a top-four defenseman. They acquired Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames for Zach Whitecloud and two draft picks.
This move isn’t unexpected— they’ve apparently been circling Andersson for months. However, the trade materialized very quickly.
Less than 24 hours before, Elliotte Friedman reported that the Boston Bruins were “in the driver’s seat” for the defenseman on Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines. Apparently, the Bruins had a stronger offer. And yet, the Golden Knights won the bidding war for Andersson.
The Golden Knights are no strangers to beating other teams to the players they wanted. In the past seven years, they’ve wanted Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Tomáš Hertl, and Mitch Marner. All six players went on to don the gold uniform. And now, Rasmus Andersson joins their ranks.
Let’s get into it.
Full Trade:
To Vegas
Rasmus Andersson, 50% retained ($2.275 million cap hit)
To Calgary
Zach Whitecloud
2027 1st round pick
2028 2nd round pick, which becomes a 2028 first-rounder if Vegas wins the Stanley Cup in 2026)
Abram Weiss
Quick Reactions
On paper, this isn’t a bad trade. Because the Flames retained 50% of Andersson’s salary, the Golden Knights actually gained $475,000 in cap space. That means that when Brayden McNabb is healthy, they’ll have the cap space needed to activate him from IR.
The Golden Knights lose a little bit of size and snarl on the back end. Whitecloud was third on the team in both hits (73) and blocked shots (63). Andersson isn’t very physical, but he’s not afraid to put his body on the line and was second on the Flames in blocked shots (90).
Essentially, the Golden Knights swapped a defensive defenseman for a talented puck mover. Last year, their season ended because they couldn’t score. Andersson helps solve that problem. He’s 10th among defensemen in created expected goals (8.1). He has 10 goals and 20 assists– 15 primary– in 48 games, and he put up those numbers on a Flames team that is tied for 28th in the league in goals per game.
Here’s where things might get hairy: Andersson is more of a puck carrier than a distributor. The Golden Knights have quite a few of those in Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Tomáš Hertl, and, of course, Andersson’s soon-to-be defensive partner, Noah Hanifin. It’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts.
Golden Knights Trade Grade: B
At the end of the day, the Golden Knights saw a need, and they addressed it. They gave Whitecloud and Kaedan Korczak the opportunities to wrestle some of the harder minutes from Shea Theodore, and they didn’t.
Andersson is a talented offensive defenseman and will help fill the Alex Pietrangelo-shaped void on the Vegas blue line. He’s a minute-munching defenseman who averaged 24:14 TOI this season with the Flames.
Sure, they gave up a lot. But the Golden Knights are in win-now mode, and they don’t care about their futures.
With no extension in place, Whitecloud and a first— potentially two firsts— really is a substantial return. However, it’s not without precedent. The Golden Knights traded a similar haul to the Flames in 2024 for an unextended Noah Hanifin, and he signed just over a month later.
Pending Andersson’s extension, this grade will likely improve to at least a B+.
