Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson played through injury at World Championship
This story appeared on hockeysverige.se this week and has been translated from Swedish to English.
Despite suffering a fractured fibula at the end of the NHL regular season, Rasmus Andersson traveled to Stockholm to represent Sweden at the World Championships.
In his first full tournament with “Tre Kronor,” the Calgary Flames defenseman captained the team to a bronze medal after beating Denmark in the final game of the season.
Rather than celebrating a medal win, he looked at the experience as a missed opportunity to win gold on home ice.
“The disappointment is still there, and you could see it in our play,” he said after the 6–2 victory against Denmark. “But then Sam (Hallam, coach) gave us a bit of a scolding between periods. He told us that few are privileged enough to play for the national team, and we came out stronger. After that, the game was more or less decided. It is with great pride that you get to wear the Tre Kronor jersey, especially on home soil.”
Andersson was extremely self-critical after the 6–2 loss to the United States in the semifinal and essentially took the blame for the defeat.
“It falls on me as the captain that we had such an awful start to the game — it falls on my shoulders,” he said after the game. “I should’ve pushed the boys harder, led the way on the ice. It was extremely frustrating, and it makes me mad, sad, and disappointed.”
The next day, he offered a bit more nuance in his assessment of the game.
“I was extremely disappointed. At some point, a new day begins with new opportunities, but I still feel the disappointment,” he said.
The 28-year-old played the entire tournament while nursing a leg injury. Near the end of the NHL regular season, he sustained a fractured fibula but still chose to travel to Stockholm and compete in the World Championship. To make matters worse, he took another hit in the bronze medal game when he crashed into the boards, leading with the same leg.
“I lost my edge, and my skate went straight into the boards with my knee, so I’ll need to rest now,” he said, adding that he had been far from 100 percent throughout the tournament. “My leg is probably at 80 to 85 percent, but I’ve felt well enough to play. It will be nice not to have skates on for a while now. But the pride of representing the national team is enormous, and this has been my first World Championship. Even though I didn’t play in the first two games of the 4 Nations tournament, I got that national team feeling back in the third game (against the United States) and was reminded how fun and rare it is to represent your country.”
He does not expect to need any procedures to be ready for the upcoming season.
“No, I just need to rest. It’s been six weeks of pain, and I’ve looked forward to taking off my skates after every game — even more now that I have to stand here and talk to you guys,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
Andersson finished his first World Championship with six points in 10 games.
Now, he approaches a summer of uncertainty, with his future in Calgary up in the air. Andersson has one year remaining on his current contract but could become an unrestricted free agent in July 2026. After the season ended, he told reporters in Calgary that he would need some time to talk to his family and get a sense of what the future might hold.
“Nothing has changed,” he said. “I’ll take care of all that stuff after the tournament. Calgary has said the same thing.”
Andersson was drafted 53rd overall by the Flames in 2015 and has played 536 regular season games with the club since then, amassing 47 goals and 184 assists for 231 points.