After the young defenseman impressed with a stretch of real solid play, the Philadelphia Flyers have loaned Helge Grans back to the AHL on Monday.
Transaction: We have loaned defenseman Helge Grans back to the @LVPhantoms (AHL).
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 2, 2024
Grans, 22, appeared in six games for the Flyers — which included making his NHL debut — and earned one assist while averaging 14:28 time-on-ice. And he wasn’t a slouch in his underlying numbers either: His earned 5-on-5 shot attempt share of 43.83% leaves some room to improve, but coming out as even when it comes to shots on goal and actual goals scored, while earning an on-ice expected goals share of 53.53% makes his first several games ever in the NHL not bad at all.
Beyond the numbers, Grans looked comfortable. A couple miscues which you expect from a young defenseman stepping into the best league in the world, but overall was very solid and he certainly raised his stock since being called up on an emergency basis.
That emergency label was removed as soon as Cam York was back and healthy, but Grans remained in the lineup. He played in the six consecutive games since his promotion, but was finally a healthy scratch for Saturday against the St. Louis Blues — so the demotion back down to the AHL makes a bit of sense.
Where does this put the Flyers’ blue line? Well, they had eight healthy defensemen with Grans, so they still are able to carry an extra one just in case something tragic happens. Erik Johnson or Egor Zamula will most likely be sitting out; and maybe both of them will be if Jamie Drysdale is nearing a return back from injury. We won’t take this Grans demotion as a telltale sign that Drysdale is coming back soon, but the coaching staff has certainly not loved what they have seen from both Zamula and Johnson through this season.
Since the salary cap is just a giant puzzle — what else could be happening is that Sam Ersson is coming back and instead of the team willing to send Aleksei Kolosov back down to the AHL (especially after putting in his season-best performance on Saturday) to abandon the trio of netminders, Grans is the casualty.
We’re sure we’ll find out soon enough.
