VOORHEES, New Jersey — Throughout the first four-plus months of the 2025-26 season, Philadelphia Flyers coach Rick Tocchet had no choice. He had to ride Dan Vladar as much as possible if his team was going to stay in the playoff conversation. Sam Ersson, for the second consecutive season, just couldn’t be counted on to provide competent goaltending.It’s a situation the Flyers plan on avoiding next season. On Tuesday, Ersson was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, along with defenseman Emil Andrae and a third-round pick in the 2026 draft, in exchange for goalie Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit.Woll will immediately slot in as the No. 2 behind Vladar, replacing Ersson.“We thought it was a chance to improve the team, help them take another step,” said general manager Daniel Briere, minutes after the deal was announced.The Flyers were considering whether to bring Ersson, a pending restricted free agent, back for one more season after he went 6-1-0 with a .912 save percentage and a 1.99 goals-against average after the Olympic break. The Flyers wouldn’t have made the playoffs without Ersson’s 180-degree turnaround.But that evidently wasn’t enough of a sample for team management to regain confidence in the 26-year-old, who was originally drafted by the Flyers in the fifth round in 2018 and was a well-liked teammate in the dressing room. From the start of the 2024-25 season up until this season’s break in February, Ersson’s .874 save percentage was 45th out of the 45 goalies who had appeared in at least 50 games.“We just felt in Sam’s case, it’s one of those where it might be time for a change of scenery for him,” Briere said. “He did well 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 Vladdy in a tandem role.”Woll’s career stat line is respectable. In 117 career games over parts of five seasons, all with Toronto, he’s 63-43-9 with a 2.94 goals-against average and .906 save percentage with four shutouts.In 2025-26, he was less effective, although the Maple Leafs as a team took a significant step backwards. Woll ended up with a 15-16-7 record, a 3.34 goals-against average and a .899 save percentage.Woll staying healthy will be key, as he was frequently in and out of the lineup during his time with the Maple Leafs, who drafted him in the third round (No. 62) in 2016. A high ankle sprain cost him two months in 2023-24, and he was hurt again in the first round against Boston, missing Game 7, which the Bruins won 2-1 in overtime. He also missed the first month and a half of last season due to personal reasons.Former NHL goalie and current league analyst Martin Biron believes the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Woll can be effective in a depth role.“He will be a good tandem guy,” Biron told The Athletic via text message. “Hasn’t performed at the level the Leafs would have wanted when he had to be the lone guy, but (in 2024-25) Toronto had one of the best team save percentages with Woll and (Anthony) Stolarz as a tandem (.905, fourth in the league). Needs to stay healthy.”Vladar played in 52 games last season after never appearing in more than 30 previously. Although he held up well, and was even better in the playoffs, the Flyers may not want to run the risk of overusing him in the future.Said Briere: “We hope we’re not coming down the stretch with a tired goalie. The better you can have both of them going, I think it helps. It prevents injuries, and (Vladar) stays fresh and he can, I think, perform better. We hope that they can push each other that way.”Woll is signed for two more seasons with a $3.67 million salary cap hit. Briere mentioned that the much-rumored contract extension for Vladar, who will enter the second of his two-year, $3.35 million AAV contract signed last summer, isn’t “over the finish line yet.” According to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, that extension is likely to be in the five-year range, with a salary cap hit somewhere between $5-6 million.That will allow the Flyers’ stable of goaltending prospects to continue to develop at lesser levels. Aleksei Kolosov will begin next season as the No. 3, paired with 2023 second-round pick Carson Bjarnason in AHL Lehigh Valley. Egor Zavragin, taken in the third round in 2023, will likely remain in the KHL for two more seasons, according to Briere. Zavragin was recently traded to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where Briere believes it will be a “great opportunity for him” after he struggled to get regular playing time this season on SKA St. Petersburg.Andrae’s size a factor in tradeBriere acknowledged that Andrae’s 5-9 frame wasn’t ideal for the role he was playing. Although Andrae proved to be a tenacious, competitive defenseman with an ability to quickly get the puck out of the Flyers’ zone, there just wasn’t a long-term spot for him in the active lineup with midsize blueliners like Cam York and Jamie Drysdale expected to be mainstays for the foreseeable future.“We loved his competitive edge inside, but it did make our defense a little small, at times,” Briere said. “We have Jamie and Yorkie there, and so the three of them wasn’t ideal, so I think it’s going to probably be a little easier for the coaches having a guy like Simon Benoit back there to use.”The 6-4, 205-pound Benoit posted six assists and 41 penalty minutes in 73 games for the Maple Leafs last season. He has 36 points (6 goals, 30 assists) in 352 career games over six seasons with Toronto and the Anaheim Ducks.“We like the physicality that he brings, and we like the size and the skating aspect, too,” Briere said. “He’s a really good skater.”The Flyers’ blue line was starting to get crowded. The club added prospect David Jiricek at the trade deadline, and Jiricek will have a good chance at making the opening-night roster, considering he’s no longer waiver-exempt. There’s also 2023 first-round pick Oliver Bonk, who made his NHL debut in the season finale and played in their final playoff game in the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes. Prospects Hunter McDonald and Ty Murchison also made their NHL debuts last season and will be battling for depth roles when camp gets underway in September.Benoit, who has one season remaining on his contract at $1.35 million, could conceivably slot into the role that was filled by Noah Juulsen, who is a pending unrestricted free agent and not expected to return.