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5 key quotes from Craig Conroy’s Sportsnet 960 interview on the Rasmus Andersson trade
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Jan 19, 2026, 07:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 19, 2026, 01:40 EST
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On Sunday afternoon, the Calgary Flames traded Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights for a return that included blueliner Zach Whitecloud, college prospect Abram Wiebe, a conditional 2027 first-round pick and a conditional 2028 second-round pick.
Shortly after the trade was made official by both clubs, Conroy hopped on Sportsnet 960 The Fan with Pat Steinberg and Logan Gordon. Go out of your way to check out the whole 17-minute chat – it’s very good and Steinberg and Gordon ask all the big questions that fans would want asked.
We wanted to highlight a five key quotes from Conroy in response to these good questions.
Conroy shared that on Sunday morning, Andersson’s agent, Claude Lemieux, informed the Flames that Andersson wasn’t willing to sign with any acquiring club at this time. Conroy was asked by Steinberg about how that sped up the trade process.
“Well, I mean, you know, we kind of had teams that were willing to do deals without and with. And, you know, you end up taking the, you know, you go back and say, would you still do it? You know, he probably could come there, you’d like it, he might like it, and you could get him signed. But some teams weren’t willing to take that risk. You know, if they’re going to give up what I’m asking for, I understand. You know, that makes sense. And then we just move on to the next team. And then, you know, it was a situation where we were looking for the best deal, and to move forward, you know, now would be better.”
Gordon asked Conroy about the importance of getting the deal done before the Olympics. After discussing some other aspects of the trade in his answer, Conroy summarized the urgency like this.
“So, for us, it was about when was the right time. And we just felt like, you know, the season is so condensed. And you’ve seen so many injuries and just thought this was the right time to do it. And to do with Vegas made sense.”
Gordon asked Conroy if they ever explored a contract with Andersson in-season. Conroy answered that they didn’t really speak again about a contract since the summer, but commended Andersson for how he dealt with the season.
“I’ve got to give Rasmus a ton of credit. He came in here and did an amazing job. He never – it was not a distraction. He was great to the team and through this whole thing. And, you know, I really respect that from him. That he was not a problem. And he actually played some of his best hockey. So, you know, if anything, he was a true professional.”
Steinberg asked Conroy if the Andersson move sends an indication regarding how the team’s approaching other potential roster decisions. (Or was it just in a bubble of its own?)
“No, I think, you know, you’re looking at the whole team. You know, you’re looking long term vision and future of this organization and where we want to get to and where we are right now. So I don’t think… this is one move I think we had to do at some point. And, you know, we’re going to continue to look to see how we can improve the team and get better. And, you know, we’re going to try to get young guys in. You know, that’s really the goal right now, as same as it was, you know, a couple years ago when we went through all the other trades that we made. This is just a continuation of where we’re going…”
It was noted by Steinberg that the Flames sent out Andersson, a right shot defender, and added Whitecloud, a right shot defender. Does that impact the plan on getting some younger right shot defencemen into NHL games?
“Zach’s a different type player. He’s not a power play guy per se. So, you know, if we’re talking about Zayne, that’s not going to affect him on the power play, and that’s really where Zayne’s going to get his, the majority of his time probably moving forward this year. So that’s, you know, I don’t think that’s a problem.”
You all know how Conroy loves to chat, and this 17 minutes was dense and really interesting. Definitely check out the full interview over at the Sportsnet 960 site on the Flames Talk feed.
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