Fantasy Hockey Breakdown of Offseason NHL Trades

Here’s a fantasy hockey focused breakdown of the recent rash of offseason NHL trades that are quickly reshaping rosters.

Fantasy Hockey Breakdown of NHL Trades

In just two weeks, Chayka has made a pair of significant deals, each one shifting player value in ways that matter even in shallow fantasy hockey leagues. Let’s take a look at the impact.

Fantasy Breakdown of the Joseph Woll Trade

Toronto Maple Leafs Received: Emil Andrae (D), Samuel Ersson (G), & a 2026 3rd Round Pick

Philadelphia Flyers Received: Joseph Woll (G) & Simon Benoit (D)

Players this helps:

Anthony Stolarz (G, Toronto Maple Leafs)

Stolarz, as it stands today, is the undisputed number one goalie in Toronto. He’s the only goalie with 20 or more NHL starts in his career. The biggest knock on Stolarz is health. He just can’t stay healthy. Even without a reliable backup, he can’t reliably be penciled in for more than 45-50 starts.

One of Artur Akhtyamov, Dennis Hildeby (G, Toronto Maple Leafs)

These two will battle for the backup job in Toronto this year. After winning the AHL’s Calder Cup and playoff MVP, Akhtyamov is today’s favorite to win the backup job.

Three months ago, Hildeby was the favorite to make the jump. The Leafs believe both are ready to make the jump into the NHL next year. This belief directly influenced this trade.
One thing to keep in mind, Akhtyamov is exempt from waivers. This would give a roster management edge to Hidleby if everything else is equal.

Emil Andrae (D, Toronto Maple Leafs)

Andrae never found his footing with the Flyers. When he played, he was an effective two-way defenceman.

With the Leafs, he immediately fills a hole on their third pair. At 5’9″, he’s small and an entirely different type of player from Benoit. He’s much more mobile, much better at zone exits. There is hope that he can become a second-pair defenceman who can contribute offensively. Don’t expect this in the next two seasons.

He only holds value in deep dynasty pools. Twelve-team pools should be able to find better options.

Players this hurts:

Joseph Woll

Woll goes from being the 1A goalie option in Toronto to being the 1B option in Philadelphia. He had a rough year on a very bad team. The Leafs finished in the bottom five in every meaningful defensive stat and metric. Coming to a new team, he finds himself behind a goalie coming off a strong year. There are rumours that Vladar was closing in on a contract extension of around $5 million per year before this trade. So far, this has not been finalized. At best, Woll is in a full-platoon situation with Vladar.

Daniel Vladar

In his first year as a starting goalie, Daniel Vladar had a very strong year, going 29-14-7, with a 2.42 GAA, and a .906 SV%. His 12.65 goals saved above average ranked him 11th in the NHL.

His backup, Samuel Ersson, was one of the worst goalies in the league until the final eight games of the regular season.

Woll is a massive upgrade over Ersson. The Flyers now have two goalies they rely on. Even if Vladar maintains the number one job in net, he will lose starts to Woll.

In drafts, Vladar should be drafted before Woll. If you’re implementing the ‘zero-goalie’ draft strategy, Vladar & Woll should be available late and provide good later-round value.
Samuel Ersson & Simon Benoit

Ersson goes from backup to potential unrestricted free agency. There are rumours that the Leafs will not tender Ersson a qualifying offer (He is currently a restricted free agent). If they do qualify him, he goes into training camp fourth on the Leafs depth chart.

Benoit’s value is and remains purely peripheral. He provides decent hits, blocks and penalty minutes. As a sixth or seventh stay-at-home defenceman, that’s all you will ever get.
Neither are fantasy relevant in 95% of hockey pools.

Fantasy Breakdown of the Darren Raddysh Trade

Toronto Maple Leafs receive: Darren Raddysh (D), signed for 8 years, $8.5 million.

Tampa Bay Lightning receive: 2026 5th round pick

Player this helps:

Darren Raddysh

The Leafs filled a glaring hole on their defense, one that has existed for two decades, a puck-moving defenseman.

Raddysh will immediately slot onto the Leafs first power-play unit. While there’s no one named Nikita Kucherov (RW, Tampa Bay Lightning) distributing passes, the Leafs boast a formidable group themselves. They’re also about to add a high-end offensive option with the number one overall pick in this Friday’s NHL draft.

A lot of prognosticators are hedging on Raddysh’s expectations. After all, he’s only played three seasons in the NHL and has never produced more than 37 points in a season.
Even if Raddysh re-signs in Tampa Bay, we should have expected regression. So, if Raddysh produces 55-65 points next year for the Maple Leafs, should we be surprised or disappointed? No, we shouldn’t. This is what I expect to see.

Last year, he filled in for an injured Victor Hedman (D, Tampa Bay Lightning) and exploded offensively, putting up 47 points in the 40 games Hedman was absent. He literally stepped into Hedman’s role and dominated.

It is worth noting that Raddysh’s Offensive Zone start percentage was a career low of 53.3% (2024-25 – 62.1%, 2023-24 56.3%), and his Corsi For Percentage (CF%) rose to 56.7%. Some say he was propped up by J.J. Moser. Maybe, slightly? In Toronto, he’ll be teamed with Jake McCabe (most likely), not exactly an unreliable slouch.

Admittedly, Raddysh is a high-risk, high-reward option next year. With the supporting cast around him, I’m on team high reward. He very likely will slide a couple of rounds in drafts, increasing his draft position value.

Player this hurts:

Morgan Rielly (D, Toronto Maple Leafs)

If he is still a Maple Leaf at the start of next season, Rielly will no longer be on the first power play unit. Over the past few seasons, the Leafs have tried several different players on the first unit, always to return to Rielly.

Raddysh effectively ends the search. Losing that role, Rielly loses 5-15 power-play points. In real life, Rielly will finally be placed on a second pair and no longer be required to carry the load of a number-one defenceman.

If the Leafs trade him, his value is dependent on location. Landing in San Jose, Rielly would see a short-term boost in value. They currently lack a legitimate first power-play quarterback option; Rielly could fill that until their prospects fully develop.

Fantasy Breakdown of Macki Samoskevich Trade

Florida received: 2026 1st round pick, 25th overall & 2027 2nd round pick

Seattle Kraken received: Mackie Samoskevich (RW)

Players this helps:

Mackie Samoskevich

Moving Samoskevich was part of the plan to land Brady Tkachuk. Luckily, Samoskevich lands on a team desperately in need of offence. Expect Samoskevich to jump into a top-six role with the Kraken. Something that simply wasn’t possible on the Panthers.

The talent of the Kraken’s forwards is a far cry from Florida’s. That is a significant downgrade. However, the opportunity to play 18 minutes a night and potentially earn a spot on the top power-play unit should more than negate any roster downgrade.

Samoskevich has produced 31 and 32 points in back-to-back seasons, collecting fourth-line minutes, 11:22 & 12:05.

Fantasy Projection: 16+ minutes per game. Expect him to surpass 50 points, possibly 60. Yes, I think he is that talented.

Players this hurts:

Nobody.

Seattle needs Samoskevich. They aren’t deep enough for this impact anyones value to the point fantasy owners will care. If I were to name anyone, it would be Kappo Kakko. Samoskevich is likely to push him to the third line at five-on-five.

Fantasy Breakdown of Tkachuk Trade

Florida Panthers Received: Brady Tkachuk (LW)

Ottawa Senators Received: 2026 1st round pick, #9, 2026 1st round pick, #25, 2027 2nd round pick, 2029 1st round pick (top-10 protected)

Players this helps:

Brady Tkachuk

Now you see how the Samoskevich trade impacted the Tkachuk deal. The 25th overall pick was moved to the Senators as part of the return.

The Panthers’ power-play consists of Alexander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, and now, likely Brady. This is a sizeable upgrade over the Senators group.

I don’t foresee Brady breaking into a new level of offence. I do see him becoming a more consistent 70-75 point producer. He’s teased with 80 points in the past and will again. He shouldn’t be expected to do this every year.

For multi-cat pools, don’t be surprised if his penalty minutes increase this year. The potential line of Sam Bennett and two Tkachuks has 10-minute misconduct written all over it.

Players this hurts:

The Ottawa Senators

I’m actually torn on putting the Senators in the ‘hurts’ category. This trade appears to place the Senators back into rebuild mode. The 9th overall pick is two, maybe three years away from wearing a jersey full-time. The 25th pick is an even longer wait. They didn’t add a single piece from this trade that they can drop into their line-up.

Sometimes, when a player makes a dramatic exit, the team actually performs better afterward (See New York Islanders post John Tavares – back-to-back Conference Finals). That said, the Senators aren’t as good as the Islanders were when Tavares chose Toronto.

Let the rebuild re-commence.