The waiting game in Calgary

As you may already be aware, the Calgary Flames are trading Rasmus Andersson. The Boston Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights remain the favorites in a four-team bidding war, while the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs remain linked.

Last night, Elliotte Friedman reported on Sportsnet that the Bruins have been allowed to engage in conversation on an extension with Andersson as part of the frameworks of a potential transaction between Boston and Calgary.

To reiterate, the Bruins’ current offer– and best available to the Flames currently on the table— is only if Andersson agrees to and signs an extension with Boston.

Meanwhile, one of the major components expected in return for Andersson, Mason Lohrei, scored a pair of goals in Boston’s, 5-2, comeback win Saturday night in Chicago. It’s the first of a two-game road trip for the Bruins with a stop in Dallas coming up Tuesday night before returning home to host Vegas on Thursday.

It’s also a siblings’ road trip (similar to moms’ and dad’s trips around the league) for Boston while Saturday also happened to be Lohrei’s birthday too.

The business of professional sports sacrifices birthdays, holidays and more, but that’s understood as “just part of the industry.” What’s not usually part of the business is for a team to ruin the mood for everyone involved during a special outing like Boston’s siblings’ trip.

That might influence the timeline of the expected outcome if the Bruins are favored by the Flames, Andersson and his agent, as well as Lohrei and his respective parties (agent and sibling).

Neither Andersson, nor Lohrei were withheld from their respective lineups as Andersson registered an assist in Calgary’s, 4-2, win on home ice Saturday afternoon against the New York Islanders.

Had both players been kept out of the action– preserved in fear of an untimely injury that would otherwise negate a trade– that would’ve been a dead giveaway regarding the likely winner of the Andersson sweepstakes.

Of course, Vegas could’ve held someone out of Saturday night’s, 7-2, win against the Nashville Predators, but it wouldn’t have been likely that all three teams would’ve sat one or more players in their respective organizations that are potentially on the move as an insurance policy.

If Andersson won’t agree to an extension as part of the proposed trade with Boston and Calgary won’t make a deal with Vegas, then the Flames will have to pivot to a potential move with Dallas or Toronto.

Craig Conroy and his front office executives in the Flames organization hold a lot of leverage over the outcome of this transaction, even if Andersson believes he is more inclined on going to Vegas should an extension not get done with the Bruins.

Andersson has a modified no-trade clause that includes a six-team no-trade list per PuckPedia as part of his current contract that expires after this season.

Unless Andersson has a personal beef with a city like Dallas or Toronto, it’s hard to conceive that– should the Flames not get something done with Boston or Vegas– the 29-year-old defender wouldn’t end up in either of those organizations.

Calgary is back in action Monday night as the Flames host the New Jersey Devils.

Meanwhile, Lohrei’s impressive effort in Boston’s five unanswered goal-comeback victory over the Blackhawks could have been enough to make Bruins general manager, Don Sweeney, reconsider his offer to the Flames.

It could have also helped Sweeney market Lohrei to other potential suitors in the event Andersson does not agree to an extension and this potential trade falls through and Boston remains set on moving their 25-year-old defender.