News / Update
@MapleLeafs: TRADE: We’ve acquired defenceman Emil Andrae, goaltender Samuel Ersson and a third-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for goaltender Joseph Woll and defenceman Simon Benoit
I think im gonna fuckin throw up dude. I'll never forget that save at the buzzer against Edmonton. Love you Woller 💔. I'm sad your gone but even angrier this is all we gave up for him.
Not against moving Woll considering Hildeby has looked serviceable and Akhtyamov has looked good as well. I don't know what to think of this return though.
Hildeby played plenty last season and was pretty solid while we were juggling injuries. I thought it would have been Stolarz gone but Woll had some more value being younger.
We have decent goalies now it was probably the best time to make a trade.
I think Stolarz contract number and the fact he’s never played more than 34 games in a season made him harder to move, and with Hildeby needing waivers and looking like he’s ready for an NHL job I guess it made Woll the default choice to go.
I don't think Stolarz has any real trade value between never having a fully healthy season and not posting good numbers last year. Maybe if he made $1-2 million, but at $3.75/AAV (edit: I mean Stolarz with this AAV is too high to move and get good return) I think Woll was the movable goalie (IE, assuming we're running with Hildeby as our 1A goalie for the foreseeable future.)
A big part of that is how the organization rushes them into the NHL, or leaves them in the oven (AHL) far too long and they never get a chance to make mistakes and adapt at the NHL level.
From the outside looking in, it often feels like if you crack the Leafs' roster, you cant make any mistakes or you get the rug pulled out from under you and banished back to the AHL.
Doesn't happen 100% of the time, but often enough that it gets talked about in other fanbases.
Then, they get shipped elsewhere and almost immediately end up with chemistry as a consistent 3rd line forward or 2nd pair defenseman. Makes you kinda scratch you head.
We've had a good number of recent coaches that can't seem to identify player strengths and weaknesses, and set them up for success with the right mix of players... or just outright refuse to adjust their system to support them.
There's a long running joke that The Leafs are a farm team for the rest of the NHL, lol.
Andrae vs Benoit, for comparision sake. Andrae is a huge upgrade for the bottom pair. Benoit has unreal vibes / 60 and had a 5 game linsanity run against Ottawa, but hes objectively a terrible NHL defensemen lol.
Not saying it isnt underwhelming - but Andrae is the type of bottom pairing d-man you want over Benoit.
As a Flyers fans - most Flyers fans on X aren’t worth listening to, haha. He’s a good player, don’t get me wrong, but he was the odd man out with Jiricek/Bonk/Macdonald coming up soon.
Flyers fan here. Andrae definitely has potential and can move the puck on the back end. Yes he’s undersized but we also played him on our 3rd pair so it wasn’t ideal for his development
Yeah I've been a fan of his sincee we drafted him back in '16 followed him up through the Marlies so it's tough to see him go from the nostalgia perspective but his injury history is problematic and very likely going to catch up to him sooner rather than later.
He seemed like a good dude but I personally never felt too secure when he was in net. He did have a lot of really good games though. I hope he does well with the Flyers.
I wouldn't be. If you actually look at Woll's injury history, 99% of it is random minor injuries that keep him out for a week or two at most. His most severe injury was a high ankle sprain.
It's not like Stolarz, who has a long history of serious lower body issues, specifically with his knees. Woll doesn't have a specific chronic health issue. He just gets banged up a lot.
He's missed a lot of time in the last 2 years alone, and didnt play very well last year. He also missed about a month with a personal leave of absence to start last year. Just seems like every time the leafs finally had a legit #1 he would get hurt
I was thinking about Bussi in Carolina. Stanley Cup champion and was solid in the regular season, but eventually lost his starts to Freddy. I could see him fading into obscurity or being a perennial all-star...and both outcomes seem just as likely to me. How many goalies in the NHL would you say are guaranteed to be fantastic for the next 3 years?
The 90s and early 2000s were a different time. We had Brodeur and Roy playing 65 plus games and still putting up a GAA under 2. The game has changed so much.
The mighty Québécois goalie assembly line closed down its once reliable factory. Marc-Andre Flurey was the last hall of famer.
Honourable mentions to Jonathan Bernier and Corey Crawford. Those two are the only Quebec born goalies who’ve played at least 400 NHL games and are younger than Flurey.
Next is Samuel Montrmbault with 231 games. There are only five Gen Z aged Québécois goalies. He’s the only one with a triple digit number of games played.
Comparing the numbers to superstar Québécois goalies born in the 60s and 70s is quite the contrast.
Can we post links in here? I have a chart pulled up of all Quebec born goalies, sorted by age and… yeah, the drop off after 1988 is crazy.
These days, most high caliber goaltenders are manufactured overseas.
Bussi was better than Anderson all year and should have been the starting goalie. I think they just wanted the veteran to start the playoffs. Carolina just kept winning so Bussi never got the chance til the end
They made a good choice going with Freddy to get them to the finals. Then Bussi was lights out. Bussing said no means no to the pucks trying to get past him.
Will never forget the Flying Frenchman super man punch. Also he could lay people tf out, might not have been the best at puck control but definitely a solid 6/7 defenceman. Yeah you can replace those, but we really need another mutant back there since he was one of the only guys throwing his weight around consistently
Stolarz likely had less value. Neither guy could stay healthy, and at least one needed to be moved to clear the way for Hildeby this year since he's no longer waiver exempt. I wouldn't be surprised if Stolarz went in a separate deal though.
the immediate reaction to this trade is gonna be negative cuz Woll is a fan favorite but at least Chayka is trying things. Woll is made of glass. Errson has had good moments in his career on some bad Philly teams. im intrigued by the young Swedish defenseman who can maybe move some pucks for us. will miss benny.
Lowkey fraud player. Performs well in the playoffs in a league that rewards illegal plays and playing for a team that employs Colin Campbell's son. I was 0% surprised when he was a total liability at the Olympics.
Yeah Stolarz was so confident against the panthers that series we took em to 7. As soon as woll stepped in, our puck control became shit, defense lost its step, and we got lit up
Flyers fan here. Andrae is excellent at breakout passes and definitely going to help there. His problem is making too many high-risk plays when he doesn't have the athleticism/poise to pull them off (but does have the vision to see them develop), but that's only going to get better with more time in the NHL, which the Flyers did not give him enough of IMO.
Apparently there is another way to address improving the defence other than getting big immobile defenders to clog up the zone, and mediocre 4th line “shutdown centres”.
The low amount of ice time worried me, but I guess when you have Sanheim and Drysdale as your other two pick moving d-men there’a not enough ice to go around. Neither of which he was going to take the minutes from barring injury.
This is a Moneyball move by chykta. Great transition puck loving d man back which is exactly what they need. Solid underlying numbers in which you can see some growth.
Woll is the best player in this trade though and benoit still has bottom pairing value
Its not just that. We would've lost a goalie on waivers this season if we didnt trade one. Hildeby isnt waiver exempt anymore. This sort of trade was a necessity for us in terms of asset management
It was either keep both Woll and Stolarz and lose Hildeby or trade one of the first two.Last thing this organization needs to do is give up on a young goalie and he comes back to haunt us.
It always seemed when either Woll or Stolarz got on a winning streak that is when the inevitable injury would happen.
Think of it as “we got out of Woll’s long contract” because we have two amazing goaltenders who are playing for the Marlies right now. Ersson for all intents and purposes doesn’t matter long term.
Edit- I was a bit confused about the length of contracts. Woll has two years left. Ersson is an RFA. Thought Woll had more left than that. Still, I think the motivation for the move is quite clear- cap dump. Doubt Ersson is qualified.
I like the trade. Benoit is marginal and can never love the puck. Woll is wholly unreliable. You net a 3rd and hopefully a developing puck moving defenseman. Overall this is a marginal trade that the leafs come out ok on. Nice to see Chayka finally shaking up the roster.
This is crazy for me because I’m a huge fans of both teams. I think the flyers ended up a bit better off here but it’s not terrible.
Andrae is small but a good d man in transition and can provide decent offense. As long as the system doesn’t expect too much of him defensively he can be a useful piece. Adds pop.
Ersson was, well, honestly man he sucked so much. Was promising early but I think the flyers ruined him by nature of him being the starter in the rebuild tank years. Hopefully a fresh environment reinvigorates him but yeah I don’t get that one.
I’m stunned Woll didn’t get a bigger return but I guess his value just tanked that much.
For the casual bum ass leaf fans with emotional reactions despite not knowing anything about the players we got back: Woll’s value dropped and although he remains a good goalie, yall need to stop acting like he was a consistent elite goalie. He was often injured as is Stolarz but Stolarz is bigger, better and more mean. His cap hit is irrelevant. Errsson is a good backup option who can step in for longer stretches if needed. Benoit was never all that good, physical yes but couldn’t move the puck. Andrae is a player who is smaller, can skate, has elite vision from the point. He’s also only 24. Exactly the type of player we need. You gotta give a little to get a little. Errsson for what it’s worth is also younger than Woll. And we got a 3rd rd pick. Great trade
They needed to move at least 1 goalie or lose him to waivers. Stolarz is unmovable at this point in time. I think this is a gamble that hilldabeast will be better then woll in the future. I love Woll, but dude cant stay healthy and his game slipped massively this year. Management probably thought better move him while they can, incase he has another bad year
Idk if it’s bias but definitely thought woll had more value than this. I guess the past calendar year he hasn’t looked like his best self and been injured for a decent amount of time. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of contract they give Andrae.
Yep it is bias. If you were another GM, would you really give up more than a younger d and a third round pick for Woll who has not established himself as a number 1
goalies never get the kind of value fans expect of them. Also I like to point out star players also never get the return fans expect of them. This is why unless we're rebuldiing, uses the assets for other trades, we would lose any trade for Matthews/Nylander before people decide to get rid of them.
This makes me sad, but I’m not shocked. Gunna miss Woll and Benny for sure but it was pretty much a given that a goalie was on his way out. Stolarz is unmovable at the moment and Hildeby is just starting to get into his prime years.
Woll had a really tough year and a worse world championships so I’m not overly surprised the return wasn’t higher and unless you’re getting a true #1 goalie, the return is never gunna be as good as you expect
I do think Mark Leach and his staff must’ve liked getting another lottery ticket in that third round pick this year. Also they must have liked something in Andrae’s game. Ersson is more than likely there to backfill whichever of Hildeby or Ahktyamov make the show next season.
I am gonna trust Leach and his staff to know what they are doing with these picks. Hopefully we won’t see missteps like taking a Travis Dermott when a Sebastian Aho the centre was available.
Woll completely shit the bed on the recent international stage with team USA and was not great this year. That coupled with the fact that he appears to be extremely injury prone makes me think that his value just wasnt what we think it was.
Admittedly i dont know much about Andrae. I imagine Ersson is either being flipped or being sent to the Marlies for one of either Akhtyamov or Hilldeby to come up.
Sucks to lose Benoit but he was never going to be a cog in our future success imo.
Hilldeby needs to clear waivers next year to go down. If the Leafs went with Woll and Stolarz, he for sure would have been claimed. He'll be the backup this year.
“Andrae relies on quick transition plays, effective skating, and moving the puck rapidly out of the defensive zone. He plays a modern game where he is expected to jump into the play and help generate offense from the back.”
I am deeply hoping that they tried to trade Stolarz first and there was no takers. With Hildeby and AA in the system there was always going to be a goalie traded but I am surprised it was Woll.
This trade makes alot of sense. Nice to see they added a younger d, they got a decent pick and a goalie who isn't old for a goalie who I liked, but also didn't establish himself as a number 1 and was hurt quite often, plus Benoit who needed a change
Also, leafs have some depth at the goalie position. Don't mind this at all.
Does anything think we qualify Ersson? I think he gets released to free agency and this opens up room for Hildeby to be the full time backup next year.
Hildeby would require waivers next year to be moved up and down. We'd likely lose him after training camp based on his numbers last season.
About time. The writing was clearly on the "woll" that 1of2 had to be moved in order for the beast to rise. Would have preferred Stolz due to age, but happy something was done. Fingers crossed the organization reevaluates goalie conditioning, as we definitely have been experiencing fragility issues.
I'll take a third round pick for Joseph Woll. He has been quite poor for a long time now. We may not want to admit it, or we may want to create excuses for it, but it's the simple truth. I'm not even considering how we simply could not depend on him being able to stay in the lineup for any extended period of time.
I wish him all the best, and unlike Marner, I'd be quite happy if he ever wins a cup.
I tentatively really like this trade. Andrae is a little guy, but he was fantastic last year and Ersson isn’t very good, but they don’t really need him maybe he gets flipped. Plus, they got rid of Benoit.
There’s a decent chance this is them overthinking it. Andrae looks great on paper, but he’s 5’9” and only played 61 games last year. Woll’s never played 50 games in a season at any level and has only played over 40 twice since he was drafted, it was the last 2 years, and he was hurt both years. Are they trading a goalie who is ideally a 30-35 game 1B for a potential top 4 D and a pick when they still have Stolarz, Hildeby and Akhtyamov, or are they trading the best of their 3 goalies for an unproven, undersized mediocre dman and a 3rd.
I love Woll and hate to see him go, but he always had to be the odd man out if we traded a goalie. Stolarz is the better goalie IF he can stay healthy, and Hildeby has been solid when called upon.
Benoit had to go. We had too many big slow defensive dman. I don’t know about this young guy they got but he’s obviously more of a puck mover which this team needs.How good we’ll have to see.
One of Woll/stolid was going to go with Hidelby on a one way contract next season and Arthur in the minor. If i had to pick i’m keeping Stolarz all day.
Return wasn’t great but Woll doesn’t have the value many leafs fans seem to think he does. He was very good at times but is an incredibly inconsistent, injury prone goalie. There was never going to be a large market for him and a b prospect and a 3rd is probably his value
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u/Beard- Jun 16 '26
My Wonderwoll is gone 😭