Friends, it certainly appears that we’re nearing the end of Rasmus Andersson’s distinguished tenure with the Calgary Flames. Given his status as a pending unrestricted free agent, his age, his likely compensation and where the Flames are in their developmental arc, there just doesn’t seem to be a fit for a new long-term contract for Andersson in Calgary.

That means, gang, that it seems increasingly likely that we shall see a major trade involving Andersson departing Calgary and some significant assets heading back to Alberta. Recently, our pal Pat Steinberg discussed the Flames’ asking price for Andersson’s services during the Sportsnet TV intermission panel and labelled it as “the equivalent of two first-round picks.”

Over the 53-year history of the Flames franchise, they’ve had a net gain of first-round draft picks in just eight trades. Here are the drafts where the Flames ended up having multiple picks as a result of such major swaps.

(A disclaimer: We’re not including the 2008 NHL Draft. Yes, the Flames gained a first-round pick from Montreal in exchange for Alex Tanguay, but they had previously sent their own first-rounder to Los Angeles for Mike Cammalleri, so during the course of that day they went from one first-rounder to zero to one again, never owning multiple picks. We’ve also excluded trade conditions on draft picks for simplicity.)

The Flames briefly owned three first-rounders in 1976.

On Oct. 1, 1975, the Flames sent their first-ever player, forward Jacques Richard, to Buffalo in exchange for blueliner Larry Carriere, cash, and Buffalo’s 1976 first-round pick.

On Jan. 20, 1976, the Flames traded minor-league goaltender Curt Ridley to Vancouver in exchange for Vancouver’s first-round pick.

Two days later, on Jan. 222, 1976, the Flames traded Buffalo’s first-rounder, along with blueliner Jean Lemieux and forward Gerry Meehan, to Washington in exchange for forward Bill Clement. (Yes, that Bill Clement.)

The Flames ended up picking twice in the first round in 1976, using their own pick (10th overall, Harold Philipoff) and Vancouver’s (eighth overall, Dave Shand).

37 years later, the Flames had multiple first-round picks in the 2013 NHL Draft. And like in 1976, they had three first-rounders. And unlike 1976, they ended up using all three of them!

On Mar. 28, 2013, the Flames traded forward Jarome Iginla to Pittsburgh in exchange for college forwards Ken Agostino and Ben Hanowski, and Pittsburgh’s 2013 first-round pick. The Flames used that pick, 28th overall, to draft Morgan Klimchuk. This trade was essentially the beginning of the team’s first – and perhaps, only – real rebuild.

On Apr. 1, 2013, the Flames traded defender Jay Bouwmeester to St. Louis in exchange for goaltender Reto Berra, defender Marc Cundari, and St. Louis’ 2013 first-rounder. They used that pick, 22nd overall, to draft Emile Poirier.

The Flames used their own pick, sixth overall, to draft Sean Monahan.

11 years later, the Flames had multiple first-round picks again.

On Jan. 31, 2024, the Flames traded forward Elias Lindholm to Vancouver in exchange for forward Andrei Kuzmenko, defencemen Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo, Vancouver’s 2024’s first-round pick and New Jersey’s 2024 fourth-round pick. The Flames used Vancouver’s first, 28th overall, to select Matvei Gridin.

The Flames used their own pick, ninth overall, to select Zayne Parekh.

The following year, the Flames had multiple picks again.

The Flames’ own pick, 16th overall, ended up going to Montreal as part of what we would call absurdly complex conditions stemming from (a) the Aug. 18, 2022 trade that sent Sean Monahan to Montreal, the Jul. 22, 2022 trade that sent Matthew Tkachuk to Florida and (c) the Mar. 19, 2022 trade that sent Claude Giroux from Philadelphia to Florida. The Montreal traded ended up being Sean Monahan and Calgary’s 2025 first-round pick to the Canadiens in exchange for future considerations.

As mentioned, on Jul. 22, 2022, the Flames traded Matthew Tkachuk and a 2025 fourth-round pick to Florida in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and Florida’s 2025 first-round pick. That pick, 32nd overall, was used to select Cullen Potter.

On Jun. 19, 2024, the Flames traded Jacob Markstrom (with 31.25% of his cap hit retained) to New Jersey in exchange for Kevin Bahl and New Jersey’s 2025 first-round pick. That pick, 18th overall, was used to select Cole Reschny.

This coming draft, the Flames currently own two picks: their own and Vegas’.

On Mar. 6, 2024, the Flames sent Noah Hanifin (with 50% of his cap hit retained) to Vegas as part of a three-way trade also involving Philadelphia in exchange for Daniil Miromanov, Vegas’ 2026 first-round pick and Vegas’ 2024 third-round pick.

We’ll see if the Flames can obtain even more picks for this year’s draft, or future ones, before this year’s trade deadline on Mar. 6.

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