Sharks trade two players to Philadelphia. Where does their roster now stand?

SAN JOSE – With a roster deadline looming and perhaps some contractual issues on the horizon, the Sharks, amid a host of other transactions, traded forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday for the contract of defenseman Ryan Ellis and a 2026 conditional sixth-round draft pick.

Ellis, 34, is entering the seventh year of an eight-year, $50 million contract he signed with the Nashville Predators in August 2018, and his deal carries a $6.25 million cap hit for this season and next. He was traded to the Flyers in July 2021, but he played just four games for the team during the 2021-2022 season before he sustained a career-threatening pelvis injury.

Shortly after Sunday’s trade, the Sharks placed Ellis on injured reserve. In 11 seasons with the Nashville Predators and Flyers, Ellis has 275 points in 566 games. He 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 would have likely been placed on waivers as NHL teams need to reduce their rosters to a maximum of 23 players by Monday at 2 p.m. (PT). Instead, the Flyers placed Grundstrom on waivers.

By moving Grundstrom and including Guryev in the trade, the Sharks are now down to 48 contracts, two fewer than the limit. That leaves open the possibility, for now, of the Sharks keeping top prospects Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson on the roster throughout the season.

If Misa, a center, and Dickinson, a left-shot defenseman, play more than nine games for the Sharks this season, their entry-level contracts will kick in and put the Sharks at the 50-contract limit, assuming no other additions are made.

Along with the trade, the Sharks got closer to their 23-man roster by placing forward Pavol Regenda on waivers and assigning forwards Quentin Musty, Cam Lund, and Colin White to the Barracuda. Per a source, forward Egor Afanasyev will be placed on injured reserve.

Regenda, 25, had five points in three preseason games this year, including a four-assist game in the Sharks’ 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday. Regenda, who had 25 points in 36 regular-season games with the Barracuda last year, and three goals in six playoff games, can be assigned to the Sharks’ AHL affiliate if another team does not claim him before Monday at 11 a.m. (PT).

Still on the Sharks’ roster as of Sunday afternoon were roster hopefuls Misa and Dickinson, forwards Ethan Cardwell, Zack Ostapchuk, and Collin Graf, and defenseman Luca Cagnoni. The status of 23-year-old defenseman Jack Thompson, who is no longer waivers-exempt, was not immediately clear. Thompson was not placed on waivers but was no longer listed as being on the Sharks roster as of Sunday afternoon.

The Sharks had 27 players on their active roster as of Sunday. Assuming Regenda will no longer be on that list on Monday, the Sharks can get to the 23-player limit by assigning Ostspchuk, 22, Cardwell, 23, and Cagnoni, 20, to the Barracuda. Those players, due to their age and limited NHL experience, can be assigned to the AHL without going on waivers.

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.

The conditional pick the Sharks received in next year’s draft from the Flyers will be the earlier of the two selections Philadelphia previously held. The Flyers had their own pick and another acquired from Columbus in the recent trade that saw goalie Ivan Fedotov go to the Blue Jackets.

By acquiring Ellis and trading Grundstrom, the Sharks now have just over $4.6 million in salary cap space for this season, per PuckPedia.

Also, per PuckPedia, the Sharks have over $34 million in dead cap space, with the deals for injured players Ellis, Logan Couture, and Carey Price totaling $24.75 million, the contract buyouts for Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Martin Jones, and Nikolai Knyzhov totaling $6.8 million, and the $2.88 million in retained salary for Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl.

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.

SHARKS ACTIVE ROSTER (as of Sunday)

FORWARDS: Ethan Cardwell, Macklin Celebrini, Ty Dellandrea, William Eklund, Adam Gaudette, Barclay Goodrow, Collin Graf, Philipp Kurashev, Michael Misa, Zack Ostapchuk, Ryan Reaves, Pavol Regenda, Jeff Skinner, Will Smith, Tyler Toffoli, Alexander Wennberg.

DEFENSEMEN: Luca Cagnoni, Vincent Desharnais, Sam Dickinson, Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg, Nick Leddy, Timothy Liljegren, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Dmitry Orlov.

GOALIES: Yaroslav Askarov, Alex Nedeljkovic.