Pals, if there’s a topic of conversation that’s dominated Calgary Flames discourse since the end of the regular season, it’s blueliner Rasmus Andersson and his future.

Will the Flames and Andersson work out a mutually-beneficial contract extension? Or will they find themselves on different pages when it comes to his next deal, and ultimately see their long and fruitful relationship end with Andersson departing the organization either via free agency or a trade?

Given how general manager Craig Conroy has dealt with older pending free agents historically – Mikael Backlund was re-signed and made captain, but Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom, Andrew Mangiapane and Andrei Kuzmenko were traded – it’s natural to be curious about if the Flames might end up trading Andersson elsewhere before his deal expires.

Recently, we put together our list of five teams that we think could be good fits for an Andersson trade. On Thursday, our pal Matt Larkin over at Daily Faceoff put together a list of six teams he thinks could work. The overlap between the two lists was just a single team – Ottawa.

Larkin’s list, aside from the Senators, also included the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers. The nice thing about Larkin’s list is he provided both reasons why that team might make a deal, and also a few potential “flies in the ointment” that could hinder such moves.

Carolina: “The Canes could use another mobile right-shot blueliner” and have a bunch of first-round picks, but… “Carolina’s real Achilles Heel in recent seasons has been the lack of a game-breaking scorer, so perhaps GM Eric Tulsky focuses on that need instead.” (What kept the Hurricanes off our list was their sheer volume of young blueliners that they could work into their lineup without needing to spend assets on Andersson.)

Columbus: “Columbus is one of two teams with more than $40 million (!) in cap space for the 2025 offseason. Some of it must go toward filling the holes on defense, whether that means re-signing Ivan Provorov and/or Dante Fabbro or looking elsewhere.” But… “Fabbro is a couple years younger. He’s better defensively. He told me earlier this season he really felt the Blue Jackets gave him the opportunity he needed to find his game. There are so many reasons for him to stay, and he should cost less than Andersson – or certainly less than Andersson’s next AAV after his current deal.”

Dallas: “The Stars have a big hole on the right side of their defense. They failed to address it with Matt Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin last summer; it seems like everyone except GM Jim Nill knew those moves were doomed to fail.” But… “uh, are we sure the cap space is there?” (What kept Dallas off our list is their lack of cap space and lack of first-round picks to potentially send to Calgary.)

Detroit: “Does any team crave a trustworthy top-four blueliner more than the Red Wings right now?” But… “The Red Wings finished bottom third in pretty much every important defensive metric this past season, from expected goals against to scoring chances and high-danger chances allowed. Are they therefore better off pursuing a blueliner whose specialty is quieting things down in his own zone?”

Ottawa: “Though Nick Jensen mostly stabilized Ottawa’s second pair alongside Thomas Chabot this past season, it feels like Ottawa needs one more true top-four guy if it wants to continue its upward trajectory after reaching its first postseason in eight years.” But… not a ton of cap space. And… “Ottawa’s prospect pool is now one of the league’s weakest with so many of the team’s prospects graduated to the NHL level. Acquiring an Andersson type could probably require sacrificing an established young NHLer.”

Philadelphia: “The Flyers have reached the stage of their rebuild in which they are ready to pursue some modest upgrades.” But… “Is Andersson the type the Flyers need, though?”

Head on over to Daily Faceoff and check out Larkin’s very detailed breakdown of potential Andersson landing spots.