Report: Flames “very interested” in Josh Anderson

Trades won’t be an option for most National Hockey League clubs until the conclusion of the post-season, but reportedly the Calgary Flames have an interest in Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson. According to a mention (in passing) by The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek during expansion draft discussion, the Flames are “very interested” in Anderson.

Originally from Burlington, Ontario, Anderson is a 6’3″, 220 pounds right shot winger. He was a fourth round pick by Columbus in the 2012 NHL Draft and has been an NHL regular since 2016-17. He had a breakout season in 2018-19 with 27 goals and 47 points, leading to a lot of teams having interest in him.

This past season, though, Anderson suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery. Before his injury, he had just four points in 23 games. His size and handedness have earned him interest, but his offensive outburst was criticized in some (analytics) circles as being a bit too resemblant of Lance Bouma or Joe Colborne’s big years – it’s worth noting that while Anderson’s shooting percentage runs very hot and cold, his 27 goal season came with an 11.7% shooting percentage when his career average at that point was 11.5%. The big question performance-wise is what he’s going to be after a major injury and surgery. He’s an average possession player who’s neither a driver or a drain.

Anderson’s a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights who would require a $2.1 million qualifying offer. But based on his scoring to date, even a short-term deal for him would probably cost around $3 million per season (and he’s a year away from unrestricted free agency). The other questions are what the acquisition cost would be and where he would fit into the Flames lineup.

Here’s basically Calgary’s forward lines headed into the 2020 playoffs:

Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Mangiapane – Backlund – Tkachuk
Lucic – Ryan – Dube
Bennett – Jankowski – Rieder/Rinaldo

Mangiapane and Dube are significantly younger and cheaper and the Flames probably don’t want to push them down the lineup given they both seemed ready for a big step forward. Bennett seems like a prime trade candidate (and the cap space wouldn’t be awful swapping him for Anderson), but then it’s still unclear where Anderson would slot in.

Unless there’s another, bigger trade happening, Anderson just seems like a good player with some minor question marks who doesn’t have an obvious fit on the Flames roster.