The Flyers’ decision to place Helge Grans on waivers on Monday may look small on paper, but it points to some real movement on the blue line.
Grans, a 24-year-old Swedish defenseman, appeared in Philadelphia’s 5-1 loss to Boston on Saturday afternoon. He skated on the third pair with Simon Benoit, logged 12:26, finished minus-1 and did not record a point or a shot on goal. If no team claims him by Tuesday, he’ll most likely head back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the American Hockey League.
This is hardly uncharted territory for Grans. He has spent most of his recent time in Lehigh Valley, playing 61 games there in 2025-26 and finishing with three goals and 14 points.
The season before that, he played 66 games for the Phantoms, scored eight times and added 15 assists. He also got six games with Philadelphia in 2024-25, including a first Flyers point in his debut against Colorado.
The timing of the move suggests the Flyers may be getting healthier on the back end. Cam York was listed as day-to-day on Oct. 10, the same day Philadelphia placed Rasmus Ristolainen on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury and retrodated it to Oct.
- Grans was activated from the injured, non-roster list at that point.
But if York or Ristolainen is ready for Tuesday’s game against Seattle, waiving Grans makes sense. If both are back, the Flyers would have eight healthy defensemen and would need to move another player as well.
Philadelphia is carrying a full 23-man roster with Ristolainen, Travis Konecny, and Nikita Grebenkin on IR. If Ristolainen returns, Grans has to go down. If York returns, the club wouldn’t be forced into a move, but it would still be the cleanest path since Grans was never likely to stick long anyway.
There’s also another angle here: Oliver Bonk.
Bonk was recalled from Lehigh Valley on Sunday and then made his presence felt against Carolina, skating alongside Travis Sanheim on the top pair. It was a rough night for the young defenseman, who finished minus-3 in 16:28.
But the bigger story was the opportunity itself. After the Boston loss, head coach Rick Tocchet made it clear he wasn’t pleased with the defense corps, especially Benoit and Grans.
That makes this waiver move more interesting. Philadelphia could be clearing a path for Bonk to stay, while sliding him into a more manageable role lower in the lineup.
Or the Flyers could simply prefer Bonk to Grans for now, using him until York and/or Ristolainen are healthy enough to return. If one of those regulars is ready, Bonk may remain in the lineup until the other is fully healthy.
Benoit could even become the healthy scratch, with Bonk staying on the third pair, possibly next to David Jiricek when the injured defensemen are back.
For now, Grans’ waiver placement leaves the Flyers with a decision tree on the back end - and a good chance that Bonk’s run with the club lasts a little longer. Or one of the regulars is facing the Kraken Tuesday night.
In Other News...
Flyers Early Skid Is Already Raising Bigger Questions About This Roster
Seven games into the season, the Flyers are already facing the kind of early turbulence that can change the conversation around a roster fast. Their latest loss came against the Carolina Hurricanes, extending a rough start that has left Philadelphia searching for any kind of rhythm or consistency while the goals and results keep piling up in the wrong direction.
The numbers have been hard to ignore, with the club struggling to finish chances and get much going on special teams, and coach Rick Tocchet has been blunt about the need for patience and improvement. Players are saying the right things about sticking with it, but the bigger question now is whether this is simply an ugly opening stretch or a sign of deeper problems that this group has to sort out before the hole gets much harder to climb out of. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Frustration With Rick Tocchet Just Reached Another Level
The early-season spiral in Philadelphia kept getting uglier in Raleigh, where the Flyers dropped a 4-1 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes and saw another lineup experiment go sideways. Prospect defenseman Oliver Bonk was elevated to the top defensive pairing and had a rough night, a move that only added to the sense that the team is searching for answers in real time as the losses pile up and the frustration grows louder.
Rick Tocchets decisions are now under a harsher spotlight because the results have left so little room for patience. With the offense sputtering, the defense unsettled and the group still waiting for a clean response, the Flyers look stuck between development and damage control, and the bigger concern is that the season is already drifting in a direction no one around the team can afford to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Coaching Speculation Just Got More Frustrating After 0-7 Start
Seven straight losses have put the Flyers in an ugly early-season hole, and the frustration around the team has already started to spill into familiar territory. When a club opens this way, the first place fans often look is behind the bench, and John Tortorellas name has been central to the speculation as Philadelphia searches for any sign of a reset.
For now, though, the noise may be louder than the reality. Reports from Sportsnets Elliotte Friedman suggest a coaching change is not considered likely at this moment, which leaves the Flyers in the awkward spot of being mired near the bottom of the standings without an obvious short-term fix. NHL history has plenty of unusual midseason moves, but this one appears headed toward patience for the time being, with the bigger question centered on how long the team can ride out the slump before something more dramatic becomes unavoidable. [Read more 🡒]