The Philadelphia Flyers have put defenseman Helge Grans on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, setting up a likely trip back to the AHL if he clears.
Because Philadelphia is carrying a full 23-man active roster, waiving Grans gives the club a path to assign him to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Flyers are currently dressed with eight defensemen, and a reassignment would bring that number down to seven, not counting veteran Rasmus Ristolainen, who was placed on IR on Saturday.
Grans only just got into the lineup after starting the season with an injured, non-roster designation. He was activated in the same set of moves that sent Ristolainen to IR, then made his season debut Friday against the Boston Bruins, logging 12:26 in a 5-1 loss. Philadelphia then made him a healthy scratch for yesterday’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
For a player with just seven NHL games under his belt, this move fits the current picture. Grans, a 2020 second-round pick, is a 6’4″, 205-pound right-shot defenseman who came to Philadelphia in the three-team trade that sent Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023.
At the AHL level, Grans has built a real track record as a defensive defenseman. Since 2021-22, he has been a regular penalty-kill presence, and over roughly a half-decade of development in the league, he’s gone from a third-pairing role to a top-four role in each of the last two seasons.
Still, the NHL door hasn’t opened much yet. Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports called the Flyers’ decision to waive Grans “unsurprising,” and wrote that “it was clear on Saturday that he’s not ready to be an NHLer.”
Elite Prospects had Grans ranked as the No. 17 prospect in the Flyers’ system at the start of last season, with lead scout David St-Louis describing him as a possible “late-blooming, bottom-pairing defenceman” if he could “unlock more explosiveness and agility and work on his finer defensive reads.”
That kind of jump hasn’t really shown up over the past year, which makes a waiver claim look unlikely and gives Philadelphia a strong chance to keep developing him in Lehigh Valley.
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