The Philadelphia Flyers have signed two pending restricted free agents in two days. First it was locking up Tyson Foerster one a two-year contract on Thursday, and just 24 hours later the team has announced that they have signed young defenseman Helge Grans to his own two-year contract.
BREAKING: We’ve re-signed defenseman Helge Grans to a two-year, two-way/one-way contract extension with an annual average (AAV) of $787,500. https://t.co/VFZfhwkBTY
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) May 30, 2025
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As mentioned by the Flyers, Grans’s new deal is a two-year, two-way/one-way contract with an AAV of $787,500. This means that in the first year of the contract the 23-year-old blueliner will be making a different salary depending on if he is playing in the NHL or the AHL, while his second year will be a one-way deal and he will be earning the same salary regardless of what level he is playing at. The minor-league salary was not disclosed by the team.
Grans played the large majority of his 2024-25 season with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, appearing in 66 games and scoring eight goals and 23 total points during that time. The Swedish blueliner was able to make his NHL debut, though, when the Flyers were in need of just anyone to be on their bottom pair, and he played a total of six games and earned one single assist. Go Helge, go.
The Flyers originally acquired Grans as part of the three-way trade with the Blue Jackets and Kings that sent Ivan Provorov to Columbus, and Grans to Philadelphia along with defenseman Sean Walker and goaltender Cal Petersen. Grans was originally a Kings draft pick, selected 35th overall in the second round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
Grans is at an interesting time in his career. He certainly is making waves in the AHL, showing that he is more than capable as a two-way player at that level, but at 23 years old this upcoming season is one where he should show his ability to find his way as a stable NHLer or not. When he did appear in those handful of games with the Flyers he did not look out of place, aside from a couple of classic rookie mistakes and misreads at the increased pace of play compared to the American league. But, his ceiling might just be a bottom-pairing defenseman and the Flyers already have some of those.
The upcoming training camp this fall should be an opportunity to either make it to that next level, or show that he belongs in the AHL. He should be in stiff competition with Egor Zamula for that sixth/seventh defenseman spot on the roster.