Emil Andrae is the newest Maple Leaf after being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers and fans should get excited about the potential he has to offer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs stunned the hockey world on Tuesday as they traded goaltender Joseph Woll and defenceman Simon Benoit to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for goaltender Samuel Ersson, defenceman Emil Andrae and a 2026 third-round pick.
Woll was long part of the Maple Leafs organization and Benoit was a decent defender who offered a lot of physicality. But now the team welcomes two new faces into the club, with Andrae being a player who fans should really get excited about.
Who is Emil Andrae? The Swedish defender who Toronto desperately needed, that's who
Andrae, 24, was the Flyers' 54th overall pick in 2020 and while he's only listed at 5-foot-9, he does weigh nearly 200 pounds and does like to add some physicality into the lineup. But his mobility, puck-movement and vision is why he was targeted by the Maple Leafs.
Elite Prospects wrote about Andrae ahead of the 2020 Draft, and they credited his vision and knack for finding his teammates as a key reason to select him:
Andrae plays with a high work-rate when the puck is close and does whatever he can once he has committed to winning a puck-battle. Andrae walks the line well to open shooting lanes from the point, using his edges and body in an evasive way.
He's got excellent vision from the point and can make great plays to set up his teammates with high-danger chances.
That sounds exactly like the type of person Toronto needs to help facilitate the offensive side of things. We need to see more mobility and a more proactive presence on the backend and adding Andrae will hopefully calm things down.
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He also has an incredible ability to get out of trouble and leave his own end, which was a huge issue for the Maple Leafs last season, as they consistently gave half-hearted attempts to get the puck out and it cost them a lot more than it should.
We shouldn't overlook Emil Andrae even if his name isn't recognizable
He only has 107 games played in the NHL with 20 points but is a plus-9 for his career and just put up a very respectable plus-15 rating in 2025-26. But if you look at his SHL stats, you start to see why he was drafted so high.
He had 26 points in 51 games in 2022-23 for HV71, but also put up 33 points in 41 games for the team when they were in the HockeyAllsvensken - Sweden's second-highest pro league.
That's not too shabby, especially considering that in 2022-23 that put him fifth on the team in scoring, and European leagues typically have much lower scoring games than in North America.
Andrae isn't going to step in and be that Morgan Rielly replacement we are expecting, but he is a vast improvement over Benoit, Philippe Myers, and Troy Stecher.
He's younger than all of them, has a lot more offensive upside, and still offers the defensive versatility needed. As a third-pairing option next to Brandon Carlo or Ben Danford may be a great way to shore up the backend.
Clearly there's a reason that the Maple Leafs targeted Andrae and he is likely going to get a new deal to see what he can do. But there's a lot he can do, and you shouldn't write him off just yet - he just got here after all.
Do you think Emil Andrae will be able to help the Maple Leafs defence?
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