Former Maple Leafs Forward Traded Back Into the Eastern Conference

In a bit of surprising news, the Philadelphia Flyers found a suitor for defenseman Ryan Ellis, as the former first round pick was traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Carl Grundstrom and prospect Artem Guryev.

Ellis, who last played in 2021-22, still had 2 years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $6.25 million. He suffered a core injury at the beginning of the 2021-22 season, which has sidelined him ever since, and his career is more or less over.

This is a huge move for the Flyers as it saves them almost $4.5 million in cap space for the next 2 years, while not having to dip into their LTIR either.

For the Sharks, it continued a theme from this summer after they traded for the final year of Carey Price's mega-deal from the Montreal Canadiens. Even with Ellis' contract added to the fold, they have $4.6 million in cap remaining.

As for Grundstrom, he never actually played for the Leafs despite being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2016 draft. He was moved to Los Angeles as part of a package that sent Jake Muzzin to Toronto in 2019.

After 6 years in Los Angeles, where he tallied 40 goal and 67 points in 236 games, he was traded to San Jose last summer, whereupon he tallied 3 goals and 9 points in 56 games in a strict 4th line role.

Grundstrom has one year remaining with a cap hit of $1.8 million and it will be interesting to see if the Flyers keep him on the NHL roster. Prior to the trade, they were set at 23 players with another former Leafs prospect in Nikita Grebenkin as a part of the mix.

There's a good chance Grundstrom is placed on waivers if the Flyers decide they want him to start the season in the AHL with their focus shifted towards prospects like Grebenkin and Jett Luchanko.