A first and a third is way too much to protect Giordano, and I am the poster that is unquestionably the most 'down' on the remaining defencemen on the Flames.
I would just trade Andersson. Why?
He does show that sometimes he is going to be a game-changer, both with his play and with his antics. I get it.
However, what I usually see is a slower defencemen who also often takes too long to decide on making a play. I know that Bingo has said this about Kylington a lot, but I also see this out of Andersson. Sometimes holds onto the puck for too long, and often gets beat to the puck. He has that shot, and he does make the occasional really strong offensive play - his vision does surprise me at times - but he is a mediocre offensive defencemen. Will he take a big step forward? I don't know. I think his lack of footspeed is going to continue holding him back.
That's why I would trade him. Heck, even after the expansion draft, I would prefer that the Flames trade him for assets, and then flip those assets (and add more) in trying to upgrade on him.
Hanifin has stabilized defensively. Hanifin has great wheels, and I prefer his decision making and zone exits. I don't think he is going to be a very offensive defencemen, however. If he can just play a bit more like Brodie did, I think he could become a more effective defencemen on the transition. He is very good at zone exits already, but just that additional vision would really help this team become a bit more dangerous.
Losing Giordano is going to sting. Yes, he is 38 years old, and you would naturally expect him to take a step down. I vehemently disagree that he wasn't the best defencemen on the Flames last season, however. He wasn't the best defensive defencmen - though I argue he was close - but he was by far the best all-round defencemen on this team bar-none. This team is going to look awful on the backend next season unless some players really take a step forward (and that includes Tanev - he is elite defensively, but he needs to help this team generate a bit more).
The cap space loss is not a 'win' for the Flames. You are going to have to replace Giordano's role. Who is going to be in the top 4? Especially on the top pairing. Sure, you can bring Edler in. Might save 3 million tops, and have another 'shut-down pairing' (Edler is going to generate squat offensively). Still, that might be the best case.
To sign a UFA this year on the top pairing, you are going to spend every cent of Giordano's contract and then some. It isn't a 'cap savings'. You might even have to spend assets in acquiring someone through a trade, as Calgary isn't exactly a premier destination anyway.
One silver lining though: I do feel that generally, if your defence doesn't help you generate offence, you are usually in the bottom half of the standings. Might just win a lottery next season.
Conversely, I will say that the lack of speed that the Flames have played with over the last while will be 'fixed' with Sutter, and one way to play with more speed is to incorporate faster breakouts by the defencemen, and also having them join the rush trying to catch teams with numbers. Maybe that will be enough in itself to increase most of the defencemen's point totals by aggregate. I think Valimaki looked really good in Europe because his team played quicker hockey, and he was part of that. Under Peters, you didn't really see much of that in his game at all. Maybe it was the difference of playing in a tougher league against better players (definitely at least some of the issues), but maybe he had a difficult time in much the same way that Brodie did under Gulutzan.
Defence scares me. Giordano is going to leave a bigger hole in the lineup than many people think (much like Brodie did - imagine a world last season in which we had Giordano-Brodie, Hanifin-Tanev!!). However, you can't pay what Seattle wants - that's way too much.
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