With the Toronto Maple Leafs looking to bolster their defense heading into the stretch run in the second half of the 2025-26 NHL season, they have found themselves in swirling trade rumors involving elite defensemen in Dougie Hamilton and Rasmus Andersson.
Well, if the Maple Leafs have strong intentions to acquire the latter in Andersson, they better do it soon as a division rival has suddenly entered the trade race. Toronto’s arch nemesis Boston Bruins apparently has made a massive offer to the Calgary Flames that includes a first-round draft pick along with defenseman Mason Lohrei in exchange for the 29-year-old Flames veteran.
Maple Leafs receive worrisome news as division rival enters the Rasmus Andersson sweepstakes
In doing so, it has suddenly upped the cost for the Maple Leafs to potentially land the right-handed shot defenseman. That is because the Leafs currently do not hold a first-round selection in both the upcoming 2026 and 2027 NHL Entry Draft.
So if the Flames’ asking price involves a first-round pick, a 2028 or later one might not suffice, which in effect would mean the Leafs would need to offer a top prospect that is equivalent to a first-round selection. In that case, that could potentially mean the likes of Ben Danford or even what should be the untouchable Easton Cowan would need to be on the table. But don’t forget, the Bruins has also included Lohrei, who was a Boston second-round pick back in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. So that would mean the Leafs need to include another potential prospect in the trade package to get it done.
Is Andersson really worth it for the Leafs? After all, his best seasons of his NHL career came almost 3-4 years ago when he posted 50 points in 2021-22 and 49 points including a career-high 11 goals in 2022-23 while playing as a top-pairing defenseman with the Flames. Since then, he has failed to hit 40 points during the last two seasons while struggling a bit in his own end at times for a struggling Flames squad at the same time.
On the other hand, Andersson has been able to play the big minutes, averaging over 24 minutes a night, and has been one of the top shot blockers in the game, averaging over 190 blocks during the past two seasons. In addition, he would be a perfect complement to Morgan Rielly on the top pairing, which would allow Brandon Carlo to drop down to an elite shutdown pair with Jake McCabe as a result.
Nevertheless, if the Maple Leafs are seriously considering adding Andersson to upgrade their blue line for a Stanley Cup run, they better do so soon before the price goes up even higher and beyond what they can actually afford. If such a case occurs, then they should perhaps pivot to Hamilton instead since the cost would be enormous anyways, so they might as well go for the one with the greater ceiling.