The Flyers’ defense has already taken a hit this season, and now the waiver wire has handed them a chance to undo at least part of the damage.
Emil Andrae, who was moved in the offseason deal that sent goalie Sam Ersson, Andrae, and a third-round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit, is now available again. For Philadelphia, that opens the door to a reunion with a player they had clearly expected to keep in the fold.
Andrae’s path since leaving hasn’t exactly been smooth. The 5-foot-9 defenseman has been used as a depth option for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who added him as an auxiliary piece in the Kirill Marchenko trade that sent the star Russian winger to Toronto.
Even in limited action, though, he’s made a little noise, posting two points in five games. He assisted on Matthew Knies's first Blue Jackets goal on Oct. 1 and picked up another helper against the Maple Leafs in his most recent game for Columbus on Oct.
The issue in Columbus is simple: Andrae isn’t climbing past Ivan Provorov, Zach Werenski, or Denton Mateychuk on the left side. That leaves the 24-year-old stuck in a seventh- or eighth-defenseman role, which is a tough place to be for a player who showed real value in Philadelphia.
Last season, Andrae put together the best stretch of his NHL career with the Flyers. Under Rick Tocchet, he played a career-high 61 games and finished with two goals, 11 assists, and 13 points, along with a +15 rating that ranked second on the team. He wasn’t a major special-teams piece, but he did enough at even strength to stand out as a reliable two-way depth defenseman.
That’s part of why a return makes so much sense for Philadelphia. Andrae would fit back into a bottom-four role, and he already knows Tocchet’s system as well as most of the roster.
He also gives the Flyers something they’ve been leaning on too heavily elsewhere: puck movement. His presence would help ease the burden on Travis Sanheim, Jamie Drysdale, and Oliver Bonk, who have been doing a lot of the heavy lifting when Philadelphia needs offense.
The current state of the standings only adds to the appeal. The Flyers are 4-9-4 with 12 points, which puts them fourth in the NHL’s waiver order. Only the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and Vancouver Canucks sit ahead of them.
That means if Philadelphia wants Andrae back, the path is there. And it would be a chance to reclaim a player they never really seemed eager to lose in the first place. The original trade was simply the price of doing business, even if the Flyers had already prepared for Andrae’s place in their plans - right down to making Hometown Remix gear that never got used.
Now the opportunity is back on the table. And for a Flyers team looking for a defensive boost, it couldn’t have arrived at a better moment.
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