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On Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers traded defenseman Ryan Ellis, who had one of their longest standing contracts from the Chuck Fletcher era, to the San Jose Sharks.
The 5’10 190lb right shot defenseman was sent to the Sharks, along with a conditional 2026 sixth round pick, in exchange for 27 year old forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev.
Ellis had a torn psoas muscle leading to significant hip and core issues, which caused him to miss the entire 2022-23 season. By late 2022, his injury was considered career-threatening and he has not played since the 2021-22 season.
At the time of his trade to Philadelphia, Ellis was a centerpiece for the club in making a push to return to Stanley Cup contention, as he was part of a three-way trade that saw former second overall pick Nolan Patrick end up with the Vegas Golden Knights and defenseman Phil Myers to the Nashville Predators.
In an era where salary cap space is still king (even with it expanding in the coming seasons), the Flyers wanted to avoid putting Ellis on their LTIR list. Once used as performance bonus overages, if a player’s earned bonuses exceed the team’s bonus pool, resulting in a cap hit for the following season.
Making this trade allows them to do so, while acquiring a pair of players who could have use for them, while the Sharks gain additional cap space usage in acquiring Ellis contract while netting a sixth round pick.
Ellis still has two years remaining on his contract with a $6.25 million AAV per Cap Wages. Grundstrom is in the final year off his two year contract with San Jose at $1.8 million AAV.
A 6 foot, 200lb right wing, Grundstrom appeared in 56 games with the Sharks last season, recording three goals and nine points. The Swedish forward was picked 57th overall in 2016 by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has scored 43 goals and 76 points in 292 career games split between the Los Angeles Kings and Sharks.
With opening rosters needing to be announced for Monday, it will interesting to see what effect the acquisition has for the Flyers roster. Yesterday, the Flyers put defenseman Dennis Gilbert on waivers with the intention of sending him to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms. At the time, it appeared that forwards Jett Luchanko, Rodrigo Abols, and Nic Deslauriers had an open path to making the opening night roster. Now, we’ll see by tomorrow what changes.
The 22 year old Guryev was drafted 135th overall by the Sharks in 2021 and split last year between the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda and ECHL’s Wichita Thunder. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound defenseman made his American Hockey League debut during the 2023-24 campaign where he had four points (2g-2a) and registered the second most penalty minutes on the team with 81.
Guryev will report to the Phantoms.
sign roslovic, jett back to juniors. claim heinola from the jets.
do the flyers even try to hype up Guryev because of his size.
Grundstrom is already on waivers. Guryev most likely never plays a game in the NHL.
What is the upside of this for the Sharks? They are only 2.5 mill from the cap and already have close to 20 mill on LTIR before Ellis. They could’ve just waived Grunstrom themselves. Did they really need another 6.25 mill of LTIR (they will be paying approx $10 mill actual cash for the privilege) for the next 2 years?
Edit : According to Sharks fans, it seems that the Sharks really wanted to open up a contract slot (and neither player traded were in the sharks plans) so that their 2 top prospects could both play in the NHL this year plus the potential for a roster purge at the TDL. The Ellis contract keeps them above the floor if that happens plus the Carey Price contract expires after this year. This gives them an extra year of LTIR.
Looks like a win/win.
Grundstrom is already on waivers. Guryev most likely never plays a game in the NHL.
What is the upside of this for the Sharks? They are only 2.5 mill from the cap and already have close to 20 mill on LTIR before Ellis. They could’ve just waived Grunstrom themselves. Did they really need another 6.25 mill of LTIR (they will be paying approx $10 mill actual cash for the privilege) for the next 2 years?
Carl Grundstrom > ND
These types of trades need to stop. Acquiring a player on LTIR should not be allowed. At least when the Lightning put Stamkos or Kucherov on LTIR for the year they were trying to win a cup. What the Sharks are doing is worse then what the Lightning or Knights have done for years.
That said I am glad the Flyers were able to move Ellis’ contract.
I agree. Both the Sharks and Flyers are working with in the system the way it’s currently constructed. As well pretty sure the contract for Ellis was fully insured…so it’s not like SJ would actually have to pay him any $….its about allowing that franchise to stay above the bottom of the salary cap with out actually spending actual dollars…. For the Flyers it’s clearing space and allowing them to stay away from using LTIR…while maintaining the flexibility.
Carl Grundstrom > ND
Grundy cleared waivers. I guess the Flyers have a decision to make.
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