A few days ago, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned that the Vegas Golden Knights had attempted to acquire Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson last week. No deal came to fruition, and TSN’s Darren Dreger doesn’t believe that the Golden Knights were the only intra-divisional opponent to try to poach Andersson from Alberta.
Speaking on The Nielson Show, Dreger indicated that the Los Angeles Kings put together a formidable offer for Andersson at the 2025 NHL Draft. Dreger believes that the offer was compelling enough for the Flames that they brought it up to Andersson, but the nine-year veteran had no interest in playing for Los Angeles.
After being previously connected to Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram and now Andersson, it appears the Kings are under the impression that Vladislav Gavrikov won’t be back with the organization next summer. At any rate, General Manager Ken Holland is being aggressive in pursuing a replacement top-four defenseman in any way that he can.
Other notes from the Pacific Division:
- Being one of several teams looking to add a second-line center from a thin pool tomorrow, the Vancouver Canucks have been connected to one of the top available options remaining in the free agent class. David Pagnotta from The Fourth Period reports that the Canucks are expected to aggressively pursue Mikael Granlund if he becomes available in free agency tomorrow. Pagnotta noted that Granlund is seeking a new contract with the Dallas Stars; however, it will be nearly impossible due to their limited salary cap space.
- Back in Calgary, the Flames have added a three-time Stanley Cup champion to their player development staff. Earlier today, the Flames announced that they’ve hired Brent Seabrook as a player development coach. Despite having no prior affiliation with the Flames organization, he has been serving as a development coach for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants since retiring from his playing career.
- Unsurprisingly, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reported that the Canucks aren’t expected to re-sign defenseman Noah Juulsen before he becomes an unrestricted free agent tomorrow afternoon. Coming off of arguably the worst season of his NHL career, Juulsen went completely scoreless in 35 games with Vancouver this past season, with a -12 rating before having his season cut short due to injury.
- According to Ben Leeson of the Sudbury Star, Kings’ draft pick Jan Chovan has signed with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves to continue his development. The Bratislava, Slovakia native was selected 184th overall in last week’s draft. The Wolves selected Chovan in the first round of the 2024 OHL Import Draft, and he’s coming off a year with the U20 SM-sarja’s Tappara, scoring 11 goals and 23 points in 39 games with a +7 rating.