SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks acquired the contract for defenseman Ryan Ellis and a 2026 conditional sixth-round draft pick from the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday for forward Carl Grundstrom and minor league defenseman Artem Guryev.
Ellis, 34, has not played due to injury since November 2021 and will be placed on injured reserve by the Sharks. In 11 seasons with the Nashville Predators and Flyers, Ellis has 275 points (76 goals, 199 assists) in 566 games.
Ellis is entering the seventh year of an eight-year, $50 million contract he signed with the Nashville Predators in Aug. 2018, as his deal carries a $6.25 million cap hit for this season and next. Ellis, who was traded to the Flyers in July 2021, is owed $5.5 million in salary this year and $4.5 million next year, per PuckPedia.
Grundstrom, 27, had nine points in 56 games in his first year with San Jose in 2024-25 and was on the bubble as far as earning a spot on this year’s Sharks roster to start the season. Had the Sharks not traded him, Grundstrom might have been a candidate to be placed on waivers today as NHL teams need to reduce their rosters to a maximum of 23 players by Monday at 2 p.m. (PT).
Grundstrom was acquired by the Sharks from the Los Angeles Kings for defenseman Kyle Burroughs in June 2024 and was subsequently signed to a two-year, $3.6 million contract.
Guryev, 22, was a fifth-round draft pick by the Sharks in 2021. He played 31 games for the Barracuda in 2023-24 but spent all of last season in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder. He was among the first players cut during this year’s Sharks’ training camp.
By including Guryev in the trade, the Sharks are now down to 48 contracts, leaving open the possibility, for now, of keeping prospects Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson throughout the season. If the Sharks wanted to keep Misa and Dickinson on the NHL roster and play them in 10 or more games, they would have needed to move out another contract to stay under the 50-contract limit.
Please check back for updates to this story.