Montreal should have good chance on Andersson. They have the top pick to offer. Flames own back to them. Most contenders have only late first to trade. Doubt Calgary blown away by 30th pick in draft.
Given how Matheson has played recently on the right side, and how much of a stabilizing presence Carrier has been for the bottom of our lineup, do we even need Andersson for this year considering that we likely aren't gonna be competing?
For this year alone I'd say that we don't need Andersson. In the future though, he'd be a tremendous grab if we acquire him and he re-signs (depending on contract of course).
If we had some kind of assurance that Andersson would re-sign I'd say to go for it. The guy can be a great defenseman for us for the next 4-7 years without losing too much given how smartly he plays defense and how he doesn't overrely on physical attributes like skating to defend.
But sadly we have exactly none of those guarantees that he'd be open to re-signing with the Canadiens right away, and so it becomes a bit of a risky business for us to acquire a top-end D like Andersson.
If we don't play our cards right we could end up in a similar situation to Ottawa, where we acquire a guy that we ultimately end up having to trade-away the year after for lesser assets than those used to get him in the first place. That, or lose him for nothing as a UFA.
Which leads me to think that if we had to really make a move to improve our team this season and beyond, we'd have to go for someone with more team control remaining than Andersson.
