For the Vegas Golden Knights, the rumor mill never stops churning. This past summer, they were linked to every big-name trade candidate simply because of their reputation. However, only one of those came to fruition.
After circling each other for over a year, the Golden Knights traded Nic Roy to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Mitch Marner’s UFA rights. As a pending UFA, Marner could’ve just signed in Vegas. However, Toronto threw around the ‘t’ word— tampering— and essentially strong-armed the Golden Knights into parting with Roy.
Apparently, the Golden Knights came close to making another significant deal. In a recent trade prediction article for The Athletic, Pierre LeBrun revealed that they nearly traded for a second rumor-linked player: Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson.
“Why a trade to Vegas? Well, to start, it came pretty close to happening in June,” wrote LeBrun. “The problem is that Vegas would have to find a new way to entice the Flames, as the Knights have traded away some of the players who were in the June trade discussion (such as Nicolas Hague to the Nashville Predators).”
On paper, the Golden Knights and Andersson seemed like a match made in heaven. At 29, Andersson still has some good years left. With 54 goals and 256 points in 573 career games, he’s a skilled puck-mover.
As a right-shot defenseman, Andersson would have solved a few problems with the Golden Knights’ back end. Alex Pietrangelo stepped away from the game for health reasons this past summer, creating a void in the top four that the Golden Knights haven’t yet been able to fill.
