Philadelphia Flyers
Maple Leafs Trade Woll and Benoit to Flyers in Early Offseason Deal: Why Now?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit to the Philadelphia Flyers. What’s the return? Why now?
The Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs have made a trade. The Flyers posted on Tuesday, “BREAKING: We have acquired goaltender Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit from Toronto in exchange for goaltender Samuel Ersson, defenseman Emil Andrae and a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.”
David Pagnotta said the trade isn’t shocking and that the Flyers had kicked tires on Woll before. With new management in place, the two sides came back together again. Andrae is a mobile defenseman whom the Leafs like. The analytics on Andrae are solid.
Maple Leafs GM John Chayka said of the trade, “What we like about this opportunity is that it allowed us to create some flexibility.” John Chayka speaks on the Joseph Woll deal. He called Andrae is a good young defenseman in the age group they like. He was someone that they’ve had their eyes on. They pick up draft capital in the process. Woll has two years remaining on his contract at $3.66 million per season.
At the same time, Maple Leafs management seemingly decided that Woll was not as reliable as they’d hoped. As Steve Simmons wrote, “He has upper echelon talent: staying healthy in all kinds of ways was always the question with Woll.”
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported, “Yesterday, I was told teams are doing their due diligence on Woll and Knies. The fact the Woll trade materialized so quickly is a bit of a surprise to some. Philadelphia emerged as best option for Woll in the last few days.”
Elliotte Friedman added, “The performance of Artur Akhtyamov…had really changed the calculus; all of a sudden they have a goalie here; and…Dennis Hildeby who needed waivers.” Woll became the odd man out.
Next: Locker Room Divided: UFA Already Rethinking Return If Oilers Hire Babcock?
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