The most talked about storyline of 2025 is going to be what the Calgary Flames should do with Rasmus Andersson.

There has been a lot of discussion about the topic already and the fan base is split.

Should the Calgary Flames trade him between now and the 2026 trade deadline?

Or should they re-sign Andersson to an eight year contract extension?

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of both options and let you decide what option you think is best for the long term future of the Flames.

The easiest way to come to this conclusion is having Andersson tell the Flames he won’t re-sign with them. That makes the decision to trade him very straight forward.

But what if he is open to re-signing? Does it make any sense to trade him? There are a lot of valid points you can make when having this debate.

Andersson will turn 30 years old in October 2026, which would be the first of his eight year extension with the Flames.

Giving out eight year deals to 30 year old players is a very risky proposition. especially for players who are not elite, which Andersson is not.

The Flames are going to need to make a determination on how Andersson is going to age.

Could he be a Mark Giordano and play some of his best hockey in his mid to late 30s?

Or will he be the type of player who will start to slow down a few years into his thirties?

You also have to consider the age of the Flames roster around him and how much money they are going to take up on the Flames salary cap.

For the sake of this example, say Andersson’s AAV on his next deal will be $8 million.

Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Yegor Sharangovich, MacKenzie Weegar and Andersson will all be 29-36 years old, taking up $37.5 million of cap space.

Cap space isn’t an issue right now for the Flames. But at some point they’re going to need to sign guys like Connor Zary, Matt Coronato, Dustin Wolf, Kevin Bahl, and other young players/prospects to long term deals.

Having nearly $40 million tied up in those five, aging players could potentially be problematic.

The Flames have assembled a solid group of right shot defencemen in their prospect pipeline.

Zayne Parekh, Henry Mews, and Hunter Brzustewicz are all right shot D-men.

If the Flames re-sign Andersson, where will they be able to fit those young players in the lineup in the future? MacKenzie Weegar is already signed until 2031. You’d have Andersson and Weegar as your top two right shot defencemen on the roster for the next six years.

I know it’s going to take a few years for those prospects to develop into top four defenders, but that will be at the very beginning of an eight year extension for Andersson, and in the middle of Weegar’s current deal.

At some point you’re going to need to make room for some of those young players.

Andersson’s trade value is never going to be higher than it is right now. 28 year old, right shot, top four defencemen with term and a low AAV on their current deal are rare commodities to hit the trade market.

Because of that. The Flames could potentially get a haul of draft picks, prospects, and roster players in a trade for him. Something that might be similar to the package they received for Elias Lindholm last season.

One thing we need to keep in mind is that Andersson is 28 years old right now. And we’ve seen some signs that he might be slowing down a little bit.

He’s had a drop off in point production over the last two seasons. He put up 50 and 49 points in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

He only produced 39 points last season and is on pace to produce 35 this season. He’s a combined minus-18 over the last two years. The Flames have been outscored 99-93 with him on the ice at 5-on-5 and all of his major underlying numbers are below 50%.

Andersson is not the best skater at 28. What is his skating going to look like in his 30s? We all know that the NHL is a league that continues to get faster every season.

And Andersson plays a style of game that takes a toll on his body. He blocks a ton of shots, is physical and puts himself in harms way to benefit his team. How will that type of punishment translate into his 30s?

Conroy and the Flames have to be 100% sure that Andersson is going to be a top pairing calibre defenceman in his thirties because they are going to have to pay him like one of they want to keep him.

There are a lot of reasons to re-sign a guy like Rasmus Andersson to an eight year contract extension.

When having the discussion about re-signing Andersson, a lot of the points made for keeping him have to do with off ice intangibles. And for good reason.

Andersson has become one of the most important players in the Flames locker room from a leadership perspective. He is one of the veterans that Ryan Huska and Craig Conroy rely on to set the culture of what it means to be a Calgary Flame. He is someone young players can look up to and follow his lead on how to be a pro.

Andersson’s leadership has taken a major step forward this season. Just look at how he has handled the passing of his former teammate and friend, Johnny Gaudreau. He visited Johnny’s wife, Meredith Gaudreau and her children at her home in Columbus. He was a rock for the Gaudreau family when they visited Calgary in December. He is nothing but a class act. He’ is the type of person you want in your organization for a long time.

On top of all that, Andersson is one of the more accountable players in the Flames dressing room as he is one of of the players who is always willing to face the media after tough losses. He does a great job protecting young players from the spotlight.

There is a strong argument to be made that he should be the next captain of the Calgary Flames once Mikael Backlund’s time with the organization comes to an end.

On the ice, Andersson is looked to as a go to player to take on the toughest matchups, play the most minutes, block the most shots, and be the number one defenceman on the penalty kill. He also brings an element of physicality, swagger, and agitation to the Flames D-core. The minutes he plays are not going to be easy to replace.

On the offensive side of the puck, Andersson has the potential to be a consistent 40-50 point player. He put up 50 and 49 point seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23. But the offence is an added bonus as Andersson is relied upon to be a defensive first player for the Flames.

Flames general manager Craig Conroy has stated publicly many times that he wants to re-tool the Flames roster and get them back to being a playoff team as soon as possible. If that’s the mandate from ownership, then trading Andersson doesn’t make sense.

Calgary is going to need Andersson in the lineup if they want to push for a playoff spot and remain competitive over the next few seasons. Their prospects on defence won’t be ready to make an impact in the top four for at least 3-4 years. If you trade Andersson, your blueline depth gets thin very quickly.

I think the Flames are going to do everything in their power to sign Andersson to an eight year contract extension. Even if it means overpaying him. This management team loves what Andersson brings to the table on and mainly off the ice.

It’s a tough situation. Andersson is clearly the type of person you want to keep in your organization for as long as possible for all the reasons I stated above.

However, my personal opinion is that the Flames should trade Andersson. I don’t think it’s a good idea to sign non-elite players to contacts that take them to their 38 year old season. Andersson’s trade value is very high at the moment and the Flames could use the high quality draft picks and prospects they acquire in a trade for Andersson to help them build a sustainable, long term contender in the future.

It sucks to say that because Andersson is such a great person and a good player. But sometimes you need to be ruthless and prioritize the long term future of your franchise over short term results.