The Philadelphia Flyers have traded defenseman Ryan Ellis and a conditional sixth-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev, the team announced Sunday afternoon.
TRADE ALERT: We've acquired forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev from San Jose, in exchange for defenseman Ryan Ellis and a conditional sixth round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. https://t.co/dq6xJhopn4
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 5, 2025
The conditions on the sixth-round pick are that the Sharks shall receive the earlier of the two picks the Flyers currently own — their own and the Blue Jackets’ — in this sixth round of next year’s draft.
This appears to largely be a cap dump for the Flyers. Ryan Ellis has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $6.25 million. He was never going to play again, but now he’ll be on San Jose’s books.
The Flyers received two depth pieces in return for Ellis in Grundstrom and Gurev.
Grundstrom is a 26-year-old forward who put up nine points in 56 games for the Sharks last season. He started his career with the Los Angeles Kings, where he scored 40 goals and 27 assists for 67 points in 236 games. His career high in points is 19, so he’s nothing more than a depth forward for the Flyers.
The Swedish winger is in the final year of his contract, carrying a $1.8 million cap hit. He’ll likely start the season in the AHL, which will save them nearly two-thirds of that, with $650,000 against the cap.
Guryev, 22, spent all of last season in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder. He had just five points in 47 games. In the 2023-24 season, the Russian defenseman split time between the AHL (31 games) and ECHL (9).
The Flyers may be hoping to squeeze something out of the 6-foot-4 defenseman, but any NHL contributions from him would be gravy in this deal. Guryev will report to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this deal is that it frees up number 94 for top prospect Porter Martone, who scored on his first collegiate shift over the weekend.
In all seriousness, this trade could have further salary cap implications for the Flyers. They now have just over $7 million in cap space, and that’s before burying Grundstrom in the AHL. Given how things have looked on the blue line in training camp, we could see a trade for a defenseman before long.
