Without a doubt, the two topics we receive the most questions about in our weekly FlamesNation mailbag – and that we see frequently in the chat during Barn Burner and After Burner – are the upcoming 2025 NHL Draft… and the future of Rasmus Andersson.

Some readers and listeners have gone even further, pondering aloud whether Andersson’s potential off-season departure could land the Flames another first-round pick.

Well friends, let’s get one thing out of the way: we do not know what the future holds for Rasmus Andersson. There’s a case to be made to keep him, and there’s a case to be made for him to be sent elsewhere. Flames brass, led by general manager Craig Conroy, have been pretty clear-eyed about their group since Conroy took the reins two years ago, and so because of their track record – look at all the established players they traded before they became free agents – we can imagine a trade coming together if they’re far apart on a contract.

Trades involving prominent blueliners with term left on their deals are pretty uncommon, but we found one that resulted in the team losing their defender gaining a first-round pick. Way back on July 23, 2021 – during the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft – Columbus traded Seth Jones, their 2021 first-round pick (32nd overall) and their 2022 sixth-round pick (173rd overall) to Chicago in exchange for Adam Boqvist, a 2021 first-round pick (12th overall), a 2021 second-round pick (43rd overall) and a 2022 first-round pick (6th overall). (If the 2022 first-rounder from Chicago was 1st or 2nd overall, the pick would revert to 2023, but it ended up being 6th overall and not shifting back to 2023.)

So there’s a lot to break down here.

In terms of draft picks, PuckPedia’s Perri Pick Value Calculator has 10.69 going to Chicago and 82.45 going to Columbus. That seems logical; Jones was the highest-value player in the trade, and Boqvist was a decent NHL depth player, but hardly up to Jones’ level. It makes sense that Columbus got oodles of pick value for Jones.

Jones had a year left on his contract at the time with a $5.4 million cap hit. In 2020-21, the season prior to the trade, he had five goals and 23 assists for 28 points over 56 games. (That’s 0.089 goals per game and 0.500 points per game.) He was 26 years old at the time and approaching his 27th birthday that coming October. Jones signed an eight year extension with Chicago five days after the trade.

So how does Andersson, right now, compare to Jones in 2021?

Andersson has a year left on his contract with a $4.55 million cap hit. In 2024-25, he had 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points over 81 games. (That’s 0.136 goals per game and 0.383 points per game.) He’s currently 28 years old and approaching his 29th birthday this coming October.

Andersson is less expensive than Jones – especially when you account for salary cap escalation: Andersson’s deal is 4.8% of 2025-26’s cap ceiling, while Jones’ represented 6.6% of 2021-22’s. Andersson is two years older than Jones was in 2021 and scores more goals per game, but generates fewer points per game.

If we’re using the Jones swap as a general template for an Andersson deal, knowing the differences between the players, what would be reasonable to expect back for Andersson? Could an Andersson trade get the Flames a top-five pick? It seems unlikely. At least, not on its own. Top five picks very rarely moved. Picks in the top 10? Not unheard of, but uncommon. A first-round pick later on? Perhaps. The Jackets added a late first to Jones to get two firsts, Boqvist and a second-rounder.

If you accept the premise that Andersson’s trade value is lower than Jones, maybe you toss out one of those first-rounders and land somewhere around a decent roster player, a first-rounder and a second-rounder. Or maybe swap out that second-rounder for a prospect of some sort. Trade valuations can be tricky and often depend on the specific teams involved and how the two clubs value each others’ assets.

But if the final quarter-season of Noah Hanifin’s expiring contract netted the Flames a first-rounder, a third-rounder and Daniil Miromanov, and the final full season of Jones’ expiring contract (plus a late first-rounder and a sixth-rounder) landed Columbus two first-rounders, a second-rounder and Boqvist, it’s probably reasonable to suspect Andersson’s trade value would land somewhere between those two returns.

Andersson is currently captaining Sweden at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. He and the Flames may still hash out an extension. Either way, we should get some sort of clarity regarding his future with the Flames during this off-season.

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