Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Briere was candid in his assessment of the trade he made with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

The Leafs traded goaltender Joseph Woll and defenceman Simon Benoit to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Emil Andrae, goaltender Samuel Ersson, and a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. It marks the first trade since John Chayka was hired as the Leafs GM, and it appears to be far from the last.

Given the Leafs’ depth in the crease, they felt comfortable moving on from Woll to clear a path for the likes of Artur Akhtyamov and Dennis Hildeby. That is not to say Ersson won’t be in consideration, but it’s hard to envision that he will be a legitimate candidate based on how his season went in Philadelphia.

“ Sam has been a fantastic teammate really loved in the room both him and Emil,” Briere said to reporters about why he moved on from Ersson. “ 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 down the stretch, he’s a gamer. But I think it was time for him to get the chance elsewhere, and we felt that Woll is a step forward for us and will be able to help [Dan] Vladar in a tandem role.”

Vladar was a revelation for the Flyers and a big part of why they reached the second round of the playoffs this past spring, before falling to the eventual Stanley Cup champs, the Carolina Hurricanes. With that said, it was his first season in a larger role, and there wasn’t a lot of quality depth behind him to ease his workload so adding another goalie to be part of a tandem in Woll made sense for them.

It did come at the expense of moving on from Andrae, whom Briere admitted was difficult to part with given the amount of time they invested in the Swedish defenceman’s development.

“Emil, we loved his competitive edge,” he said. “But it did make our defence a little small at times, with [Jamie] Drysdale and [Cam] York there, so the three of them wasn’t ideal.”

The Leafs including Benoit in the trade signals the first step in their attempts to change the makeup of their blueline, which Chayka highlighted as one of his primary objectives of the offseason. Benoit was certainly a beloved figure with his hard-working and sandpaper playstyle, but he was also a microcosm of the team’s struggles with moving the puck.

It is the aspects of Benoit’s game that were appealing to the Flyers and why they ultimately felt comfortable parting with Andrae in this trade.

“ It might be. Maybe he’s even higher up the lineup, too. Why not,” Briere said if Benoit is their seventh defenceman. “ We like the physicality that he brings, we like the size, and the skating aspect, too. He’s a really good skater.”

“I think it’s gonna probably be a little easier for the coaches having a guy like Simon Benoit back there to use.”