Insider: Rasmus Andersson Would Sign Long-Term with Maple Leafs

Rasmus Andersson, Calgary Flames defenseman

The seismic Quinn Hughes blockbuster is having ripple effects around the league on the trade market. Pierre LeBrun said on TSN's Insider Trading that teams in need of a defenseman are more desperate now, and the next most sought-after blueliner on the trade market, Rasmus Andersson, is getting even more attention.

What I am hearing is that the Calgary Flames suddenly got more calls on Rasmus Andersson after the Quinn Hughes trade.
That’s not surprising. There aren’t going to be that many top-four defencemen moving between now and the March 6 trade deadline.

LeBrun wonders if the Flames and Andersson's agent Claude Lemieux will try to work on a sign-and-trade for the pending unrestricted free agent, rather than just dumping him off as a two-month rental. That would greatly increase the return.

Insider: Andersson would consider signing with Maple Leafs

In either case, the insider says the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams in on Andersson, and are even one of the teams he would be amenable to staying with.

Among the teams that have circled back on Rasmus Andersson is the Toronto Maple Leafs.
We know the Leafs tried to trade for Andersson last year at the deadline, and why I mentioned Toronto is that my understanding is that the Leafs would be one of those teams that perhaps Andersson would consider extending with, if in fact a trade would work out between those two teams.

Make no mistake, a Leafs/Flames trade will still be hard to come by, due to Toronto GM Brad Treliving's bolting from Calgary to come to the Leafs two years ago.

Another factor that will make a trade difficult for the Buds is their relative lack of assets to offer in return. Until more legitimate top-four type d-men come on the market, says fellow insider Darren Dreger, the Flames' ask for obtaining Andersson will remain very high, and the Leafs will likely be priced out of his market.