The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers completed a multi-player deal on Tuesday which will see goaltender Joseph Woll and defenceman Simon Benoit head to the city of brotherly love.
Coming back the other way is goaltender Samuel Ersson, blue liner Emil Andrae and a 2026 third round pick. Woll is coming off a bit of a down year in Toronto, posting a 15-16-7 record with a 3.34 GAA and .899 SV%. Some of that can be attributed to the Leafs abrupt fall off from 2024-25 to one of the worst teams in the league record wise last season.
For his career, the 27 year old has a 2.93 GAA and .906 SV% across parts of 5 seasons at the NHL level with Toronto.
“We thought it was a chance to improve the team, help them take another step,” Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said. “Sam has been a fantastic teammate, really loved in the room, both him and Emil. We just felt in Sam’s case, it’s one of those where it might be time for a change of scenery for him, and hopefully it gives him that chance to take another step. Did well in the second half last year and down the stretch. He’s a gamer, but I think it was time for him to get a chance elsewhere. We felt Woll, it’s a step forward for us and he’ll be able to help [Dan Vladar] in a tandem role.”
Vladar had a breakout campaign with Philadelphia posting career bests in wins (29), GAA (2.42), and save percentage (.906). He’s currently entering the final season of a two year deal worth $3.35M and will become extension eligible as of July 1st.
“As far as the contract talks, we’re working on it,” Briere said. “He said he’s interested, obviously the team is interested. We’re working toward something that we hope can get done eventually, but it’s not over the finish line yet.”
It’s currently unclear whether Toronto has long term plans for the newly acquired Ersson and Andrae or whether this was more of an opportunity to free up some cap space and acquire additional draft capital. Both players are set to become restricted free agents this summer, giving the Leafs the option of whether to sign them to team friendly “prove it” deals, flipping their negotiating rights to another club, or simply letting them walk.
Woll was earning an average of $3.67M per season and is signed through 2027-28, while Benoit has one more year remaining on his current deal paying him an AAV of $1.35M.
Toronto currently owns the 1st overall selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft on June 26th and could be in line to make some additional deals in the coming days as well. According to reports, the club is currently gauging trade interest in forward Matthew Knies who could be made available for the right price.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.