Emil Andrae Joins Maple Leafs in Trade With Flyers
emil andrae is on the move to Toronto after the Maple Leafs sent Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit to Philadelphia in a trade that also brought back Samuel Ersson and a 2026 third-round pick. The deal clears just over $5 million in cap space for the Maple Leafs and leaves them with six defencemen under contract for next season.
Maple Leafs add Andrae
Toronto gets a 24-year-old defenceman who played 61 regular-season games for the Flyers last season and finished with two goals and 13 points. Andrae also added one assist in four playoff games, giving the Maple Leafs a young blue-line option with recent NHL and postseason experience already on his record.
Philadelphia drafted him in the second round with the 54th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. He now joins a Toronto roster that has Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe, Christopher Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Brandon Carlo and Philippe Myers under contract on defence for next season.
Flyers swap pieces
The Flyers receive Woll and Benoit in the same move, with Ersson and Andrae heading to Toronto as part of the return. Both Ersson and Andrae are pending restricted free agents, so the trade hands the Maple Leafs a roster piece they can evaluate without waiting on a long-term commitment to be settled.
Woll’s departure is the clearest crease change in the deal. Toronto had been expected to move a goaltender this summer after Woll, Anthony Stolarz and Dennis Hildeby all saw NHL playing time last season, and Ersson now steps into that group while Hildeby and Artur Akhtyamov remain in the competition for a roster spot in training camp.
Cap space in Toronto
The move gives the Maple Leafs room to work after adding both a goaltender and a defenceman. Benoit’s exit also trims the back end further, and the club still has a six-man defence group under contract while the front office weighs the rest of the roster around Stolarz, who is entering the first season of a four-year, $15 million extension signed last summer by then-general manager Brad Treliving.
For Toronto, the trade is less about one headline name than the shape of the roster now. It adds Ersson and Andrae, adds a 2026 third-round pick, and turns one crowded area into a cleaner picture before camp opens.
