The Calgary Flames have finally traded Rasmus Andersson. He was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, and the Flames got a decent return. One of the pieces they got back in the trade is defenceman Zach Whitecloud. To this point, the defenceman has spent his entire career with the Golden Knights and now gets a fresh opportunity as a Calgary Flame. Whitecloud brings some great playoff experience to the squad and still has a few years remaining on his contract. Let’s go into detail on what the defenceman has to offer.
Whitecloud’s recent statistics
| GP | G | A | P | BLK | HITS | |
| 2022-2023 | 59 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 97 | 90 |
| 2023-2024 | 61 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 105 | 129 |
| 2024-2025 | 74 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 103 | 117 |
| 2025-2026 | 47 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 63 | 73 |
Whitecloud is mainly known for his defensive abilities. He is a shutdown defenceman who is not afraid to throw his body around and block shots. The twenty-nine-year-old should fit in well with the Flames organization, as Ryan Huska admires more of a defensive structure. Whitecloud was paired alongside Kevin Bahl for his first game as a Flame. This defensive pairing should be fantastic for the team as it features two big defenceman. Whitecloud will also slide in on a penalty kill unit to assist the Flames with their sixth-best penalty kill in the NHL.
Whitecloud is certainly not known for his offensive abilities, but there is no doubt that he will get a great opportunity in Calgary. The defenceman will see top-four minutes night in and night out, giving him an excellent chance to show his potential with the Flames. It will be interesting to see how long Whitecloud is with the Flames, as the franchise is in an unknown state of mind. Assuming the Andersson trade is a step in the tank direction, Whitecloud could be flipped later on for more assets.
Whitecloud’s career achievements
To this point, Whitecloud has many achievements to be proud of. First of all, he was an undrafted free agent who was able to claw his way into the NHL. The defenceman played a couple of seasons in the WCHA with Bemidji State University, then signed with the Golden Knights in March of 2018. He spent a little bit of time in the minors to develop his game, which ultimately led to him becoming a regular for the Knights in the 2020–2021 season. For the last six seasons, Whitecloud was a reliable defenceman for the Knights who helped them win a Stanley Cup in 2023.
Obviously, with his Stanley Cup-winning experience, Whitecloud has quite a few playoff games under his belt. Over his time in Vegas, Whitecloud played in seventy eight playoff games, getting past the first round four times. This alone is a lot more experience than nearly anyone on the current Flames roster. The only Flame who comes even close to Whitecloud in playoff experience is Blake Coleman, who has sixty-five games.
Another achievement Whitecloud has to his name is bringing home a silver medal in the 2022 IIHF World Championship. This was the defenceman’s first and only time participating in this tournament for his country, Canada. Team Canada made it all the way to the gold medal game. Here, Whitecloud scored a huge goal in the third to help Canada push the game into overtime. Unfortunately, Finland scored in overtime and won gold on home ice.
What does this move do to the defensive core?
As of right now, the Flames have a lot of defenceman available to play in the NHL. The following defenceman are all options when healthy:
- MacKenzie Weegar
- Kevin Bahl
- Zach Whitecloud
- Joel Hanley
- Jake Bean (Injured)
- Brayden Pachal
- Hunter Brzustewicz
- Zayne Parekh
- Yan Kuznetsov
All nine of these defencemen have played with the Flames at some point this season. There is going to come a time when management needs to truly figure out what players belong on the Flames and who needs to be moved. Guys like Hanley, Pachal, and Bean do not really have a space on the team. One of those three could serve as a seventh defenceman, and that is it. Whitecloud has secured a top-four spot on the team, and Brzustewicz has recently been promoted to the top power play unit. With these moves, someone needs to be the odd man out.
Ever since returning from the World Junior tournament, Parekh has yet to play in an NHL game. He was dealing with an injury and has now been sent down to the AHL for a conditioning loan. This will obviously give the defenceman a great opportunity to get some meaningful games in before the conditioning stint ends after January 30th. After this time, it will be interesting to see what Huska does with the lines as three young guns, Kuznetsov, Parekh, and Bruzustewicz, will be fit to play.
What do you think of the overall decision to bring in Whitecloud? Is he a key part of the defensive core, or is he another trade chip in the future?
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