Friends and buddies, as of this writing, Rasmus Andersson remains a member of the Calgary Flames. But, as the saying goes, that can change quickly.

Amidst an uptick in trade chatter online that seemed to bubble up since Tuesday evening, TSN’s Darren Dreger provided a social media update on Andersson’s status on Saturday morning.

Per Dreger: “Things can develop quickly. However, sources say 4 teams remain in the mix for Flames Dman, Rasmus Andersson. Two teams in the east and two in the west. Boston and Vegas are strong contenders. Unless there’s progress, there’s a decent chance Andersson plays today for Cgy.“

In case you’re just joining us, Andersson is a 29-year-old right shot defender originally drafted by the Flames in 2015. He became a full-time member of the Flames NHL roster in 2018-19 and he’s become one of the most important players on the hockey club, on and off the ice. He’s one of the teams’ alternate captains and regularly leads them in ice time. He’s in the final year of a six year deal that pays him $4.55 million. Andersson has a six team no-trade clause included in his contract.

When Craig Conroy became Flames general manager in the spring of 2023, a year after Johnny Gaudreau left in free agency, he noted the importance of getting value back for expiring assets. Since then, Conroy has traded away a laundry list of expiring veteran players – among them Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom and Andrew Mangiapane – as the club has embarked upon a youth movement. There have been numerous reports that Andersson and the Flames are far apart on contract talks and it’s becoming more and more likely – perhaps even inevitable – that Andersson is traded before the Mar. 6 trade deadline.

More recently, insiders such as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman have noted an uptick in the Flames’ activity on the Andersson file and this past week, Friedman noted that both the Flames and Andersson have indicated a desire to get a trade consummated before the Olympic trade freeze kicks in on Feb. 4. (Andersson has been named to the Swedish Olympic men’s hockey team.)

Among the teams whose names have emerged as contenders for Andersson’s services are Boston, Vegas, Detroit and Dallas, but other teams may also be in the picture.

The Flames are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host the New York Islanders. They’re currently carrying seven healthy defencemen, so we’ll see if Andersson ends up playing against the Islanders.