The NHL trade deadline always delivers a surprise or two, and with the Flyers stuck in a precarious situation, nothing can be ruled out. Could one of their young defensemen end up being the surprising move of the deadline?

Andrae’s rollercoaster tenure

Philadelphia Flyers’ young 23-year-old defenseman Emil Andrae has had a tumultuous tenure over the past three seasons since being called up to the NHL. Since the 2023-24 season, Andrae has played 86 games over the three-season stretch. He hasn’t had a chance to stick as an everyday defenseman on a Flyers team that’s not very strong on the backend. The soon-to-be 24-year-old is a restricted free agent come season’s end; however, he is under team control until the 2029-30 season, when he could become an unrestricted free agent.

His time with the Flyers has been a bit of a roller coaster. Andrae has been sent up and down between AHL Lehigh Valley and the Flyers many times over the last three seasons, including the beginning of this season, where he started the season up in Allentown with the Phantoms.

Andrae fell out of favor with the previous coaching staff after having a solid start to last season. He was sent to the AHL in December of 2024, then was recalled in February of 2025 for a week, and then sent back down to Lehigh Valley again, then was recalled after the trade deadline and remained with the Flyers for the remainder of the season.

This season has been slightly more productive for Andrae, who currently has 11 points in 40 games and is a plus 11. Last season, in almost the same number of games, Andrae had 7 points in 42 games and was a minus 5. According to MoneyPuck, the 23-year-old defenseman is third on the team in On-Ice Goals percentage at 58.9 percent and ninth in On-Ice Expected Goals percentage at 51.9%. 

However, he has been getting sheltered minutes on the second or third defensive pairings, while averaging just 16:54 time on ice, which ranks sixth among Flyers defensemen this season.

Where does he fit on the depth chart?

The concern with Andrae moving forward isn’t about whether he can handle the NHL game; it’s where exactly he fits on this team long term. At 5-foot-9, Andrae doesn’t fit the physical profile the Flyers appear to be prioritizing along their blue line. He’s currently behind the Flyers’ other smaller defensemen – Jamie Drysdale, who is 5-foot-11, and Cam York, who is 6-foot – on the depth chart.

As of recent, Andrae hasn’t just fallen behind those two guys on the depth chart; he has been acting as the Flyers’ seventh defenseman in head coach Rick Tocchet’s system. Noah Juulsen played the last five games before the Olympic break over Andrae, who was a healthy scratch and watched from the press box. Tocchet noted the healthy scratching as an attempt to get Noah Juulsen into the lineup because of the Flyers’ struggling penalty kill; however, in those 5 games, Juulsen only saw 1 minute and 51 seconds of penalty kill time according to NHL stats. Has Andrae fallen out of favor with yet another Flyers coaching staff?

With Oliver Bonk, Ty Murchison, Helge Grans, and Christian Kyrou all pushing for an opportunity at the NHL level, the Flyers have a slight logjam of young defensemen pushing for one spot. And with Andrae – now three seasons and 80-plus games into his NHL tenure – could he be the guy the front office looks to move to clear a roster spot?

Andrae could be moved at the trade deadline, but a trade in the offseason seems more likely – especially with Ty Murchison being out for the season with an upper-body injury, and Oliver Bonk, Helge Grans, and Christian Kyrou still developing at the AHL level. It wouldn’t surprise me if, during the offseason, Andrae is packaged in a trade to try to acquire either a top 4 defenseman or a top 6 center – both of which the Flyers severely lack.

Whether it’s at the trade deadline or later this summer, Emil Andrae’s future with the Flyers hangs in the balance.