As it was long expected, Rasmus Andersson isn’t going anywhere.
The defenseman is re-signing with the Vegas Golden Knights on a seven-year contract, a source confirmed to the Review-Journal. The deal will carry a cap hit of $8.5 million per season.
This deal became a formality once the Knights traded Pavel Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers on Friday, clearing way for the team to use most of its cap space to bring back the mobile, offensive-minded defenseman
Andersson was the Knights’ big-ticket trade acquisition from general manager Kelly McCrimmon in January from the Calgary Flames.
It cost defenseman Zach Whitecloud, prospect Abram Wiebe, the Knights’ first-round pick in 2027 and a second-round pick in 2028 to land the most coveted name on the trade market at the time.
That price alone was going to be why the Knights brought Andersson back.
There were high expectations for Andersson upon his arrival. It took a while to get there. The argument is he never reached them in his first half-season with his new team.
He had 17 points in 33 regular season games. Shortly after arriving in Las Vegas, he already had to hop on a plane to Milan and represent Sweden in the Winter Olympics.
All the while, he went the first month after the trade without his family.
He found his groove in the final month of the regular season with 11 points in the final 16 games. Though he had six assists in the playoffs, Andersson said he felt he defended as well as he’s ever done in the first three rounds.
Andersson played the Stanley Cup Final shortly after the passing of his agent and longtime friend Claude Lemieux. He struggled against the Hurricanes, totaling one point and was a minus-2.
“I think he’s a really good NHL defenseman,” McCrimmon said on June 17. “I think he’s going to be, like a lot of players that come here, once you’ve got your house, once you’re with an organization a little bit longer, it’s a little bit easier to get to the game that you have.”
McCrimmon is banking on Andersson getting his boots on the ground and settling in, while becoming the defenseman he believes he can be.
“I’ve loved everything about Vegas and I’ve really enjoyed being here,” Andersson said after the season. “I would love to come back and I would love to work with Kelly and find a solution to be back here. It would be awesome.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
