The Philadelphia Flyers acquired Simon Benoit and Joseph Woll from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a trade that sent Samuel Ersson, Emil Andrae and a 2026 third-round pick to Toronto. The move gives Philadelphia two players at once: a defenseman who brings size and edge, and a goaltender who changes the club’s depth chart immediately.
Benoit is 27 and was born Sept. 19, 1998, but his path to this deal was anything but direct. He went undrafted, played parts of five AHL seasons with the San Diego Gulls before reaching the NHL, and has now been dealt as part of a package that also included a goaltender and a draft pick. That matters because Philadelphia did not buy him for scoring touch. It bought a defenseman whose value comes from stopping pucks, finishing checks and handling hard minutes.
That profile showed up again in the 2025-26 season, when Benoit had six assists in 73 games while finishing in the top two on Toronto with 194 hits and tying for second with 114 blocked shots. Across 352 career games, he has 36 points, including six goals and 30 assists, and he has added 20 Stanley Cup Playoff games with two points. He also scored the overtime winner for Toronto against Ottawa in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a reminder that a player can be moved for reasons that go beyond the box score.
The deal also redraws Philadelphia’s future. By sending out a 2026 third-round pick, the Flyers paid with draft capital as well as roster pieces, while Toronto added Ersson and Andrae to the mix. For Benoit, the next step is simpler than the trade around him: he arrives in Philadelphia as a depth defenseman expected to bring the same low-drama game he showed in Toronto, with the only open question being how quickly the Flyers put him into that role.
