The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Emil Andrae in a trade earlier this offseason.
The young defenseman seemed to be shaping up for a chance to play in Toronto and grow his game after coming from the Philadelphia Flyers in the Joseph Woll deal.
Instead, Andrae will never play a regular season game for the Leafs, at least not right now.
He was part of the trade package going to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday in the deal that was headlined by Kirill Marchenko coming to Toronto and Matthew Knies going to Columbus.
Full trade details:
To #Leafs:
RW Kirill Marchenko
LW Miles Wood (cleared waivers)
G Elvis Merzlikins (LTIR)
*Marchenko extension: 6 years x $12.5m.*To #CBJ:
LW Matthew Knies
LW Steven Lorentz
LD Emil Andrae
Cond. 2027 2nd Round Pick— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 28, 2026
Andrae was clearly a player that Columbus wanted, but it’s fascinating that Toronto traded him before he even took the ice for them in a game that counted.
The Maple Leafs clearly like Marchenko a lot.
Why Did Maple Leafs Trade Emil Andrae?
There appear to be two reasons at play here.
The first is the most obvious — Toronto wanted to get a deal done for Marchenko, and the Blue Jackets seem to have asked for Andrae.
The Maple Leafs decided the blue-liner wouldn’t be the holdup on this blockbuster trade.
The other reason, though, is that Andrae isn’t a big guy, and that’s a mold the Leafs already have some of.
Andrae can work out somewhere, but maybe it would’ve been a bit redundant in Toronto.
This is how Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis describes Andrae:
Emil Andrae: Puck-moving defender who plays well in sheltered minutes. Leafs had a few undersized guys in the system already
Steven Lorentz: Big, hard-working depth forward. Prototypical fourth-line guy who tries hard. Not much offense
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) September 28, 2026
Maple Leafs Defense Pairings
Toronto has a lot of strong defensemen even without Andrae.
Parts could shift around without Andrae, but it’s possible their three defensive pairings are set.
It appears that Morgan Rielly and Darren Raddysh may open the season together.
That would leave Jake McCabe to be paired with Chris Tanev.
And then there’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson with Troy Stecher.
Moving on from Andrae quickly does remove a bit of a logjam, and it allows the Leafs to be a bit more physical on the blue line rather than relying solely on technical skill.
Toronto opens its season Tuesday night at home against the Canadiens, so it’ll show immediately if they have a defensive unit that’s already locked in and good to go, even without Andrae.
Why Maple Leafs Traded Emil Andrae Despite No Games Played For Toronto