It’s more of tire-kicking on Rasmus Andersson at this point
Frankly Hockey: Frank Seravalli, on the Rasmus Andersson tire-kicking, and how teams may want to acquire him before the pre-Olympic roster freeze. There is a lot of hockey to be played in January.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Seravalli: “It’s been a lot of tire-kicking. And not to say that that interest isn’t genuine, but they’re just not ready yet to get to that point. The interest hasn’t been serious enough yet. A lot of hey, ‘we saw that Quinn Hughes was traded. Like, are you moving Rasmus Andersson?’
So that the volume of calls were there, but not in terms of sincerity to do business right at this moment. It was more of we’re interested. Keep us in mind, don’t do anything without calling us. And so that was the tone and tenor of the calls.
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Brien Rea: Rasmus Andersson has been, I mean, the Tickle Me Elmo, it feels like since last year. The number one item on everybody’s Christmas list to try and go get on their blue line. And the longer that conversation rolls out, just like Seattle, who’s willing to go over the top against the other teams to try and acquire him, plus the extension situation.
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Seravalli: “And so the reason why the interest, I think, hasn’t been more sincere this week and trying to pull off a holiday roster freeze trade for a guy like Anderson, is because look at the East. We just talked about how there’s like this jumble of teams outside of really kind of top-five in the West. The East is, everyone is over .500 in the East. And so teams are trying to figure out, who are we authentically in this, or are we just and also ran.
And they’re not ready and willing to trade assets this early in advance without knowing the answer to that question, or at least having a better chance of formulating it. So that part has stood out.
I mean, Rasmus Anderson has, like, very limited control when it comes to that no-trade. It’s a six-team no-trade, so he won’t have as much say.
But, I mean, count on all the traditional no-tax States that have a chance to win. Those are like the desired destinations. And not a surprise to anyone, those are the teams that are generally in the mix. So, I just think for a lot of these teams that might have big appetites, being able to actually pull off the transaction is a different story.
Brien Rea: “Yeah, and just a final thought for me on this, the way, Bill Guerin essentially went sniper in the weeds on Quinn Hughes called Vancouver and said, boom, there’s my package, and just pulled out his biggest clubs in the bag. It may take until after January, you know, before, right before the Olympic break, or just after entering the trade deadline, a team is just going to have to call Calgary and say, ‘All right, there’s our best and final offer. Take it or leave it.’ And try to go over the top before they say, let’s do this and they send off Rasmus Andersson.
Seravalli: “Here’s the thing, though, it’s very likely to occur between the calendar flipping to 2026 and the pre-Olympic roster freeze. Because, yeah, there is a third deadline this year, and that’s that Olympic roster freeze.
Anderson going to the Olympics, you’re going to want to make that deal before he goes there and subjects himself to more. And we’re now entering hold your breath season for everyone. Because it’s trade chips that no one wants to see get hurt, and also all these guys that are about to be picked to Olympic rosters 12 days from now.
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They got a lot of hockey. Five weeks of hockey to get through. I can guarantee you that there are going to be significant changes for almost every team from when they’re named on, on or submitted on December 31 to when they actually arrive in Milan. There’s going to be players added and deleted without question, because some teams have 17 games, Brien, to play in January. That’s crazy.
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