The Philadelphia Flyers are making moves.
On Sunday afternoon, the team announced that it had traded Ryan Ellis and a 2026 sixth-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev. It’s largely a cap dump for the Flyers, who get two organizational depth pieces in the process.
An hour after being acquired by the Flyers, Grundstrom was subsequently placed on waivers in an effort to open up the option to send him to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL to start the season.
The most important thing here, though, is that Grundstrom was the only Flyers player placed on waivers, with Dennis Gilbert clearing. Sunday’s list of waived players is particularly important because teams must submit their opening rosters on Monday. That means that any waiver-eligible player who was not placed on waivers on Sunday has all but officially made the opening night roster.
For the Flyers, that’s forward Rodrigo Abols. Abols has been one of the best stories of training camp and the preseason, as the 29-year-old veteran was an afterthought at the start of camp.
Abols split last season between the Flyers and Phantoms, putting up 32 points (15 goals) in 47 AHL games. He also got into 22 NHL games, scoring two goals and adding three assists for five points.
The 6-foot-4 forward can play either center or left wing for the Flyers, and has plenty of professional experience as he played 266 games in the SHL from 2017 to 2024.
The Flyers don’t have a ton of question marks left on the roster, but Abols not being placed on waivers solidifies his spot. The big question now is what it means for Jett Luchanko.
Luchanko, of course, is not waiver-eligible and could be sent back to the OHL at any time. He recorded an assist in Saturday’s preseason finale while playing on the Flyers’ fourth line with Abols and Garnet Hathaway.
There has been much debate over whether Luchanko should start the season with the Flyers or give him a full year in the OHL with the Guelph Storm.
We’ll have our answers by Monday at 5 p.m. EST, the deadline for teams to submit their official rosters for the start of the 2025-26 NHL season.