The Toronto Maple Leafs made an interesting trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, sending goalie Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit out and bringing in a couple somewhat valuable pieces. And frankly, one of the players they got back is giving a similar feeling.
Emil Andrae is a 5-foot-9 defenseman who the Leafs got and is really the main return for Woll and Benoit. Sam Ersson was the only other player involved in the deal and Toronto may not even send the restricted free agent goaltender a qualifying offer, making him available to sign elsewhere. And then a third-round pick for next week's NHL Draft is nice but also extremely whatever.
Andrae is interesting though, and honestly, feels like a very similar player to someone that Leafs Nation knows and tried to appreciate for as long as possible.
Emil Andrae can be this Leafs team's Travis Dermott
Travis Dermott, in case any Leafs fan has some short-term memory loss, was a second-round pick by the Leafs all the way back in 2015. He was developed, worked his way up through the AHL, and then eventually made the NHL for his hometown Leafs. But a total of 251 games later for the Leafs and he was eventually sent to Vancouver for just a mid-round draft pick.
Unfortunately, he never found his footing again, but during his time in Toronto it was something. Every little piece of underlying number or graph shown by someone more analytically inclined, or fun little WAR metric created by some hockey nerd (endearing), put Dermott in a good light. The reality was that he was playing in extremely sheltered, third-pairing minutes that gave him a good opportunity to not face tough competition and try and squeeze as much impact as possible out of him.
It wasn't the perfect situation, since every time he tried to get promoted up to the top four, he just didn't look the same as when he was deployed in specific situations that were beneficial for him.
And now, Andrae can be that exact player.
There might be more to his game, but all over social media today we saw graphs of blue and red and numbers that tried to paint Andrae as some extremely underrated player just waiting to break out.
Emil Andrae, acquired by TOR, is a two-way defenceman who has done well in sheltered minutes. A very high-motor and involved player who zooms around the ice a bunch and even throws some hits but........ he is 5'9. pic.twitter.com/2f07TuBNcE
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) June 16, 2026
But again, in reality, Andrae is a 5-foot-9 defenseman that doesn't have any dynamic quality. He isn't Lane Hutson with his skating and deception. He isn't Shayne Gostisbehere with his incredible offense and power-play presence. Andrae is a solid player but was used in a very specific role in Philadelphia and deployed in such a way that will pop the numbers like this.
Even with the Leafs, he will continue to have these numbers and fans will clamor for him to get more of an opportunity -- just like we all did with Travis Dermott -- and then when he does due to injury or some other reason, he won't be as good.
It isn't anything wrong with having this type of player, but it's all about using them in the right way.
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