[sureLoss]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/646...shared_article

And as of Monday, the team that tops his list, league sources told The Athletic, is the Vegas Golden Knights.

Which explains why Vegas and Calgary have had numerous discussions over the past week, but still no trade has been made, as the Flames clearly haven’t been excited yet with what the Golden Knights have put on the table.

It makes sense that the Flames believe they should get more in a trade if Andersson is signed to an extension as part of it (he’s got one more year on his deal). But Andersson appears to be a little picky in where he would sign, which is obviously his right, as he would be forgoing a chance at unrestricted free agency 12 months from now.

Right now, it sounds like it’s pretty much Vegas for him.

My understanding is that the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings were among the teams with trade interest, but Andersson wasn’t ready to talk extension with those teams, so a trade didn’t materialize.

It’s not that he must be extended to be dealt, but if he isn’t, the value in the trade is diminished to some degree.

There remains the chance that Flames general manager Craig Conroy simply keeps Andersson and has him start next season in Calgary and focuses on the trade deadline in March as the better time to move him.

Having said that, the Flames are hoping to reel in a top-four defenseman in free agency as early as Tuesday when the market opens, and if they’re able to pull that off, they might circle back to Vegas in trade talks regarding Andersson.

Lots of moving parts to all this, but the biggest takeaway is that if Andersson agrees to an extension as part of trade in the coming days, it’s likely with Vegas.

Of note, my understanding is that Nicolas Hague was part of the earlier trade discussions between Vegas and Calgary, but he has since been dealt to Nashville. So if Vegas and Calgary pick up their trade talks again on Andersson, they’ll have to find another path to a deal.