Simon Benoit was a key part of the Joseph Woll trade that brought Emil Andrae and Samuel Ersson to Toronto but now he can't even get into the Flyers lineup.
When the Maple Leafs made their slew of changes this offseason, one of the first deals they decided to do was to trade homegrown goaltender Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit to the Philadelphia Flyers for a package that included goalie Samuel Ersson as well as young puck-moving defenseman Emil Andrae.
Woll was the main piece sent away, and he is expected to share the workload with Dan Vladar and so far has been a pretty solid addition to the Flyers. Ersson and Andrae are actually gone from the Maple Leafs thanks to a couple of trades, and it's Benoit's turn to step in.
Benoit gets yanked after two rough games to start 2026-27
That is, if he can even crack the Flyers lineup.
After getting absolutely throttled by the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-0, and losing 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils, the Flyers are taking Benoit out of the lineup after two dismal showings. The 29-year-old has zero points, a minus-one, zero blocked shots and only four hits in only 15:59 TOI.
You'd think that the addition of Benoit would have been a benefit to the Flyers given that they are looking for big, strong, physical defenders but they need people who can actually defend as well.
Clearly, the Benoit experiment didn't work for the first two games and head coach Rick Tocchet is making some changes. There's a good reason why the Maple Leafs traded him alongside Woll, as they were desperate to get more mobile and have someone with better footing than Benoit.
Benoit can be successful if the Flyers switch gears
That's not to say that he can't be effective but he is certainly used as more of a physical intimidator who loves to sacrifice his body. Don't expect him to be the most keen defender though, and his flat-footedness could haunt the Flyers multiple times this year.
He is more of a third-pairing defender but that doesn't mean the team can't give him support.
Perhaps putting him alongside a 22-year-old David Jiricek isn't the right call, but maybe they can swap him and Cam York temporarily. Not only to give Benoit a much better transition partner in Jamie Drysdale, but to give Jiricek a much more reliable defender as he continues to grow.
There's a world where Tocchet brings back Benoit because he decides that he needs a much more physical and intimidating presence on the ice. But in doing so he's going to hinder his team defensively, and he'll have to weigh whether that is worth it or not.
Did Toronto make a mistake trading Simon Benoit?
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