Andrae Aims To Push For Full-Time NHL Work In 2024-25

For Philadelphia Flyers prospect and Lehigh Valley Phantoms defenseman Emil Andrae, the 2023-24 season was that of a learning experience for the Swedish-born defender making the switch from pro hockey in Sweden to North America last year.

Things went well for Andrae in training camp last fall. He made the Philadelphia Flyers opening night roster out of camp.

"I was really excited to make the team. I had a really good camp and I feel like I deserved a spot there, and I didn't really know what to expect," Andrae recalled in a 1-on-1 interview with InsideAHLHockey.com  "Of course, it's the best league in the world, but I feel like I didn't really play my game in those first four games, and I think that's the reason why I got sent down."

The taste of the NHL right off the bat was certainly a confidence booster for Andrae, but it also allowed him to get a first-hand look at what playing with and against the best-of-the-best was all about.

"Of course, it was a good learning experience for me to see how the game is played up there, to see what I am capable of, what I have to develop and do better to gain a spot up there and not just be there," Andrae explained, adding, "so I enjoyed playing those games, and it was huge for me."

While he quickly made his NHL debut last fall, appearing in four games at the beginning of last season, ultimately Andrae made his adjustment to the North American pro game in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Lehigh Valley - a situation that allowed him to develop his game while playing top pairing minutes and increasingly more special teams ice time as the season wore along.

One of the first things he noticed he needed to work at on the smaller ice was in the defensive zone.

"Here on the smaller ice, the body position is like way more important than anything else when you defend, and I think that was the thing I learned throughout the season that helped me," Andrae said of his adjustment to the North American game.

As the season moved along, Andrae said his comfort level in the AHL continued to grow.

"I feel like I had a pretty solid season. I had my ups and downs, and I learned a lot during the year," Andrae said of his overall progression throughout last season. "I feel like at the end, I started playing better because I learned how to really be more effective out there."

Andrae ended up leading all Phantoms defensemen in scoring with 32 points (five goals, 27 assists) in 61 games while also being a key contributor for Lehigh Valley in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs - scoring two goals and an assist to go along with a plus three rating in six postseason games.

One thing that was evident about Andrae last season was that despite being listed at 5-9 and 176 pounds, he wasn't afraid to be physical in the corners and at the net front. Often times, he drew the ire of his opponents after whistles with extra hits and slashes.

"Obviously, I am a very competitive player, and I've always been like that. I like to use my body even though I'm small, but I feel like I'm strong and I feel like I'm trying to be smarter with my body than just run into someone that I know I'm gonna lose my battle with," Andrae said, adding, "So of course it's part of my game, but it also comes with being smart, because I'm a little bit smaller."

The experience and confidence gained through the end of last year has seemed to carry over into training camp this fall for Andrae, who is getting rave reviews from the organization's coaches.

"We had to play in our end at times, we battled, we competed and made some decent reads. I thought Grans and Andrae played pretty well and had to get in those situations as well," Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson said, bringing up Andrae unprompted as a player who played well in the September 26 preseason game against the New York Islanders.

"I liked how Andrae was checking. He was moving his feet well," Thompson added. "I thought he kept the game simple, but then he made a couple of plays at the same time which was positive. I actually thought he played a pretty good game."

When I asked Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere about which players he was most looking forward to seeing in camp, Andrae was the first player he mentioned by name.

"Emil Andrae, [who] last year had a good year with us, I'm looking forward to seeing if he took a step forward. And I feel already that he did. He's a little bit quicker than he seemed last year," Laperriere said of Andrae after the second day of NHL training camp on September 20.

Andrae, himself, has liked how he has performed in training camp and preseason thus far.

"I feel like I played well. I feel like I played two solid games, a lot of good stuff defensively and obviously that's what I've been trying to focusing on and trying to show that I can handle because I know the puck and the puck moment, I feel like I'm there, but I think it's the defensive side of it I have to focus on," Andrae told InsideAHLHockey.com last week. "And I think that's what I've done well in these two games. And hopefully I can get some more."

To date, Andrae has appeared in a pair of NHL preseason games and has performed admirably in both contests by all accounts. While making the Flyers opening night roster might be a longshot given how many defensemen with NHL experience seem to be above him on the depth chart, he's focused on putting his best foot forward and letting things play out.

"I'm just trying to do my best and trying to show what the coaches what I've learned from last year and how I have developed as a player," Andrae told InsideAHLHockey.com. "I know it's pretty stacked blue line up there, but I'm just trying to do my best, to be the guy that they  want to bring up when there's an opening the roster, or there's some injuries, or they want to change something up, so I'm just gonna go to work every day and every practice, and then we'll see what the roster is gonna look like."