Philadelphia Flyers Make Most of Maple Leafs Trade – Hockey Writers – Philadelphia Flyers

The first salvo of the offseason usually doesn’t come too long after the Stanley Cup is awarded. And less than 48 hours after the Carolina Hurricanes captured their second championship on Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs fired the first shot.

The move doubles as John Chayka’s first trade as Maple Leafs general manager, and it’s a surprise. They hope that Emil Andrae can improve their mobility and puck-moving in the backfield. The Flyers, on the other hand, got a 27-year-old who looked like one of the NHL’s underdog netmen before Toronto’s disappointing 2025-26 season.

Building Brick Woll

Yes, the easiest pun in the books, but in 2023-24 and 2024-25, it was true. Those were Joseph Woll’s first two seasons of significant NHL playing time, and they went pretty well. Woll was 21st in the NHL in goals saved above expectation (GSAE) per MoneyPuck with 7.2 in 25 games, a .294 GSAE average per 60 minutes that ranked 14th (minimum 20 games). The following season, he was part of the NHL’s leading tandem with former Flyer Anthony Stolarz, ranking 11th in the NHL in GSAE and 10th in GSAE with 60.

Although he didn’t make the playoffs as a starter, Woll saw action both times, and in 2022-23 with just 11 regular season games to his name. His overall performance was strong, with a .906 save percentage (SV%) across 14 games. If not for his injury at the end of Game 6 in 2024, the Maple Leafs may have finally won against the Boston Bruins. He was on the wrong end of two six-goal streaks in 2025 after filling in for the injured Stolarz, but Toronto’s problems ran deeper than him.

That theme continued in 2025-26, when Woll and Stolarz moved from the top 10 in the GSAE to 50 and 51, respectively. Injuries have been a problem for Woll in his career, as he has missed each of the past two seasons after missing an extended period in 2023-24 due to an ankle sprain (and his aforementioned injury).

Even with those struggles last season, the 6-foot-3 netminder has a combined .905 SV% over the past three seasons, which ranks 18th in the NHL. His cap hit, meanwhile, ranks 30th among signings for next season at $3,666,667, per PuckPedia. It also runs through the 2027-28 campaign, so the Flyers have him under contract for two seasons.

It is an undeniable improvement over the outgoing goalkeeper, Sam Ersson. During that same period, Ersson (one year younger than Woll) was tied with Artūrs Šilovs for the worst SV% among goal scorers (minimum of 35 games played). Even Woll’s low season SV% was higher than Ersson’s best season in that window and .028 higher in 2025-26. The ceiling and floor for the Flyers’ number-2 goaltender increases significantly with this move.

Bigger, Not Better

The Flyers came out pretty good considering the raiding aspect of this trade. But that’s probably part of the deal, and it’s no surprise that the Maple Leafs are getting an edge elsewhere.

While Andrae isn’t a perfect player, the 2020 second-round pick put up solid numbers and tallied a respectable 13 points in 61 games for the third team in 2025-26. A broken wrist hampered his efforts to play as he was limited to four games.

The biggest concern with Andrae is his size (5-foot-9, 189 pounds), especially in the overall picture of the Flyers’ defense. It boils down to that, though, especially after the Hurricanes won it all with a blue line that prioritized movement over size.

That’s especially true of Flyers running back Simon Benoit. The former Anaheim Duck has never fared well in advanced metrics. He endeared himself to the Leafs in his first season, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime of the playoffs and assisting on another, but it became clear after last season that it wasn’t going to be a long-term situation.

That may be the case in Philadelphia, where Benoit has just a year left in unrestricted free agency. He carries a cap hit of $1.35 million and can bring more physical punishment than Andrae with his 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame, but there is no doubt who is the better player between the two.

If Benoit serves as the team’s seventh defender next season, replacing Noah Juulsen, that is a very good situation. That’s where he fits in now, with Nick Seeler comfortably ahead of him on the third-pairing depth chart and David Jiříček likely to make the team (and Oliver Bonk in the mix). Marking him as an overnight player like Toronto did the past two seasons, however, opens the door for negative results.

How Did the Flyers Go?

In addition to the four players, the Flyers also traded the 85th overall pick in this year’s draft to Toronto. That leaves Philadelphia with just four picks in 2026 (21st, 53rd, 181st, 213rd), tied for the fewest in the NHL and, barring more moves, the fewest in team history.

The team that gets the best player in a trade usually wins, and Woll, at least, is the most successful player by a long shot. It’s a smart move for Toronto, as it saves salary and has a comfortable NHL tandem left in Stlarz and Dennis Hildeby. Sometimes, defensive defensemen with basic metrics like Andrae can blossom into a bigger role. Regardless, he’s valuable in his current position and makes Toronto lose their 2027 third-round pick.

Both sides have found someone equipped to put themselves in a role to succeed. They also got a player who did worse than good last season, if not more. But given that Woll has shown a lot in the NHL and doesn’t come with age or contract concerns (although some do have durability), the Flyers should feel good about this move.