Right now, Andersson is an A+ trade asset. An A++ asset with retention. The second you sign him to a long-term deal, his value immediately tanks (I know the point is to keep him in that scenario, duh, but still).
Then you have Andersson & Weegar as right-shots with Parekh, Mews and Bru as big Top 4 hopes on the right-side being potentially blocked.
Andersson could potentially be turned into multiple Grade A assets that help elsewhere in the lineup (specifically C/forwards). Plus I know he's past his "nutrition/fitness issues", but who's to say once the final contract is locked up, he doesn't fall back into those habits? I know he's super competitive, but even if that's unlikely to happen, that's the type of player that seems a bit more risky locking up.
His 7 points his last 31 games hasn't been all that impressive either, and he has also been among the worst D-men on the team in that timeframe in all his Rel CF/FF/SCF/xGF/GF%/etc.. in that time frame. Not to mention his history of up-and-down seasons.
The Flames could easily use their cap space the new few years to plug in another quality top 4 D-man through UFA if they need to. A good plug while the young guys develop (and while the assets that Andersson turned into developed) and then could be flipped easily as well.
Instead, we'll have 4 30+ year olds on long-term deals while also hoping our new core is good enough to be better than them and push the team to Contention status?
Just seems so short-sighted to me.
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