Flames linked to 109-point forward

The Calgary Flames are at a crossroads.

On one side, they have plenty of exciting young talent such as Matt Coronato, Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Kevin Bahl, and, of course, goaltender Dustin Wolf, who finished second in Calder voting.

On the other side, Jonathan Huberdeau still has a $10.5 million cap hit, Nazem Kadri is not getting any younger, and the loaded Western Conference will not make cracking the playoffs for the first time since 2022 any easier.

One name to watch for is Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson, who, if the Flames could somehow acquire him, would signal a belief in this current core and set them up for a legitimate run at the postseason.

NHL Insider Frank Seravalli believes “the Flames would love to get their hands, somehow, on Jason Robertson, I think in a deal that could involve Rasmus Andersson.”

Andersson, 29 in October, has been a sturdy, right-shot defenseman in Calgary for nearly a decade. However, he also enters 2025-26 on an expiring, $4.55 million deal, and the Flames have historically had trouble recruiting and retaining top talent.

Swapping Andersson for Robertson, who is also a pending restricted free agent, makes sense on paper for each team. Dallas needs right-handed defensemen, and Calgary needs elite scorers up front.

The Stars probably want to lock up Robertson for the long term, given his 109-point output in 2022-23, followed by consecutive 80-point campaigns from 2023-25. But, money is tight down there, and dumping his $7.75 million owed this year for an immediate contributor like Andersson is not a bad second option.

There is no knowing if this sort of deal will actually go down, but each front office has to at least consider the switch.