Maple Leafs and Flames Trade Talks Take a Turn After New Development Surfaces

There is a lot of potential for former Calgary Flames and current Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving to make some fantastic moves this offseason and make his team better, and could end up looking to his former team for help.

While there are a few players who would fit the style of play Treliving wants, and besides the biggest name being a Nazem Kadri reunion, there was some smoke around Rasmus Andersson as a trade candidate as well.

But while there is usually smoke, there's fire but unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, a new report seems to show that it's just smoldering embers right now.

According to NHL Insider Chris Johnston, he mentioned that the Flames aren't necessarily keen on moving Andersson yet, and if they do want to, they'll wait for next year's deadline if an extension can't be reached.

It's not surprising given that the team still has a year left to work things out, and his deal isn't the most expensive one on their books.

But it really puts a damper on Toronto's hopes for acquiring Andersson, but can they get it done at all?

If they don't have a suitable enough offer to give Calgary this summer, it's going to be heavily dependent on where the team sits in the standings come next March.

If Calgary is sitting in a prime position in the Pacific, and Andersson is a big factor, then they will absolutely be trying to pay him handsomely for an extension.

But if they are struggling, or Andersson himself isn't putting in the same defensive effort as he has in previous seasons, they will be looking to ship him off. At that point his price wouldn't be as high as it is now, so they could find a reasonable deal.

Andersson, 28, is not an offensive superstar by any means, and is a staunch stay-at-home defender who blocks an obscene amount of shots. Over his last four seasons he has 643 blocked shots, some of the best in the entire NHL.

Drafted 53rd overall by the Flames (and Treliving) in 2015, he's skated in 536 games with 231 points (47G, 184A), 279 PIM and a minus-15 rating in nine seasons.

While the Maple Leafs miss out on Andersson now, there is still those embers keeping warm, and all they'll need is a bit of a spark to get that rumor fire going once again.