Tuesday morning, it was announced that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers executed a trade, with Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit going to the City of Brotherly Love in exchange for 24-year-old defenseman Emil Andrae, Samuel Ersson, and a 2026 third-round pick. It marked the first real, substantive trade of the 2026 off-season.
With that, it also marked two fewer teams who could reasonably be pining for the services of 36-year-old Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom, who was rumored to have been getting shopped as of a few days ago. The veteran netminder had his worst statistical season to date in terms of box score numbers, with a save percentage (SV%) of .883 and a goals against average (GAA) of 3.07, both highs since he turned into a starting goalie.
As Nick wrote recently, the Maple Leafs were one of the teams that could have been of mutual interest, given their health issues between the pipes. Adding a veteran who can play 50-plus games a season to lessen the workload on Joseph Woll or Anthony Stolarz, in concept, was a solid thought. Philadelphia was a clear fit as well, given the likely unsustainability of Dan Vladar's play in 2025-26 and Ersson's status as outright one of the worst goalies in the National Hockey League.
Perhaps Toronto is still a fit, but the much likelier bet is that they want to give the workhorse job to Stolarz and call up one of their stud AHL netminders, Dennis Hildeby or Artur Akhtyamov, to play in the backup role. The Flyers are all but off the table now, assuming they want to roll with a tandem of Woll and Vladar -- a smart bet on their end, in all likelihood.
This doesn't mean that the Devils are void of options, though. Though Markstrom has a 20-team no-trade list for 2026-27 and is getting paid a somewhat large $6 million per season, there will most definitely be suitors given the scope of the goaltending market. Perhaps Florida -- who desperately needs a starting goalie who can eat 50 games while providing average (or even slightly below-average) play -- gives familiar friend Sunny Mehta a call. Edmonton is another fit, with horrid goaltending that has held them back from playoff success in recent years. Reasonably, neither team would be off of Markstrom's list given their benefits. Perhaps there is a fit with an up-and-coming team like Chicago as well, who desperately need to improve across the board to grind back to relevance.
Either way, the Devils should have options, even if Toronto and Philadelphia are no longer on the table. Of course, all of this is contingent on them getting a suitable replacement for Markstrom.
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