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    Several teams, including the Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars, had held advanced talks with the Flames over this past week about acquiring the defenseman. According to sources, the Bruins were interested in a trade only if they could agree to an extension with Andersson. The Flames gave the sides permission to speak, but no deal was reached.

    “To be able to get it done with Vegas, they were willing to do it and do it without a contract because that was one thing that was made clear to us just in the last, maybe 12 hours, was there wasn’t going to be an extension signed with any of the teams,” Flames general manager Craig Conroy said. “That definitely changed the way we had to negotiate and what we got back in return.”

    Calgary had known for months that an Andersson trade was inevitable. The Flames decided to expedite the process recently and told interested teams they wanted to get a deal done before the Olympic break. Andersson played his final game on Saturday in Calgary, where he appeared to know it was goodbye as he saluted the crowd following the 4-2 win over the Islanders.

    The trade solidifies Vegas as a Stanley Cup contender and bolsters the Golden Knights’ reputation as a franchise that is constantly looking to acquire top talent in order to win.

    Whitecloud has been with the Golden Knights since signing in Vegas as a college free agent in 2018.