The Toronto Maple Leafs traded goaltender Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman Emil Andrae, goaltender Samuel Ersson and a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, the teams announced Tuesday.

Woll, 27, posted a 15-16-7 record this past season for the Leafs, with an .899 save percentage and 3.31 goals-against average. Benoit, 27, had six assists in 73 games for Toronto last season.

Ersson, 26, appeared in 33 games for the Flyers last season, finishing with a 14-11-5 record, 3.12 goals-against average and .870 save percentage. Andrae recorded 13 points in 61 games for Philadelphia last season, adding an assist in four playoff games.

Making sense of this move for the Leafs

This is a pretty curious first trade for new Leafs GM John Chayka.

On the one hand, the Leafs were facing a potential glut in goal next season, with Dennis Hildeby set to require waivers. On the other hand, Woll was the most proven and reliable (relatively speaking) of the bunch and making only $3.67 million cap dollars for this season and next. Trading him leaves the Leafs, a team with postseason aspirations, with a crease of the frequently injured and largely unreliable Anthony Stolarz, the largely unproven Hildeby, and the intriguing but totally unproven Artur Akhtyamov.

In return, the Leafs got back a young third-pairing defenceman who averaged 15 minutes a game last season, a young-ish goaltender with a career .884 save percentage who is a pending RFA, and a third-round pick in the upcoming draft. The Leafs also parted with Benoit in the deal. For the trade to work out for Chayka, Andrae needs to be a hit and the goalies left over need to stop the puck at a high level. If not, Chayka’s first deal as GM could prove to be a big misfire. — Jonas Siegel, Leafs staff writer

Flyers gain stability in net

Woll will essentially replace Ersson as the No. 2 goaltender behind Dan Vladar, giving the Flyers what they hope will be a more reliable backup. Ersson had some of the worst numbers in the league from the start of the 2024-25 season through the Olympic break, and although he played well coming out of the break in helping the Flyers reach the playoffs, that evidently wasn’t a large enough sample size for the Flyers to retain the pending restricted free agent.

Woll, having a reasonable $3.67 million cap hit for the next two seasons, also allows Flyers goaltending prospects Aleksei Kolosov, Carson Bjarnason and Egor Zavragin to keep developing at lower levels.

Andrae’s size played a role in his becoming expendable, something Flyers general manager Daniel Briere confirmed in a media availability held moments after the trade. The Flyers already have Jamie Drysdale and Cam York taking up spots in their top four — they comprised the team’s second defense pair over the second half of the season — while Benoit will be in the mix for a spot on the team’s bottom pair next season, barring any more moves. — Kevin Kurz, Flyers staff writer

Scouting report on Emil Andrae

Andrae’s a player I’ve always had a soft spot for and was my No. 3-ranked Flyers prospect in my 2025 pool rankings before he made the full-time jump to the NHL.

He’s a short and stocky 5-foot-9 defenseman, but he doesn’t play like a typical blueliner of that size. His game is more about competitiveness, effectiveness and puck-moving than any dynamic quality. John Chayka has talked about adding more of that puck-moving element to the Leafs’ backend, and he’ll give them a different look on their third pairing than they’ve had in recent years.

He manages pressure well in all three zones, side-stepping forecheckers in the defensive zone and keeping his head up through neutral ice to create entries. He’s got good four-way mobility through his crossovers and footwork (without being the quickest player from a standstill, though I think that has been overstated even if it can limit his rush defense or pull him out of position when he gets caught up ice). I like his sturdiness and physicality for his size. He holds his own in battles, boxes out well for a smaller player and can step up to rub players out along the wall. And improved feet from a standstill have gone a long way to ensuring he can hold his own defensively.

Andrae’s got great touch and weight on his passes. He usually makes the right decisions on when to attack off the line into his shot or when to distribute. His shot pops, and he does a good job adjusting his angles to get it through. He’s always shoulder-checking going back for pucks, even under pressure.

And the offensive-zone skill is there, even if it’s more likely to beat one layer of pressure and make a quick play than to try to break down multiple defenders. He creates in short, decisive sequences. — Scott Wheeler, national NHL prospects writer