Throughout this year, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere has made quite a few moves that have elevated him into "genius status". The signing of Dan Vladar as the starting goalie has gone from a "Well, I guess that's a nice move..." to being, perhaps, the best free agent signing of the summer for the whole NHL. The trade for Trevor Zegras is looking more and more like a steal every day. Christian Dvorak, at first, was a seemingly underwhelming signing, but he has paid off in huge dividends.
One of his moves, however, has gone rather unnoticed. That is, until recently. Back in October, the San Jose Sharks traded for the contract of Flyers defender Ryan Ellis. It was a salary cap dump for the Flyers. In return, they got defensive prospect Artem Guryev and forward Carl Grundström. Both are former second-round picks, but Grundström was a second-rounder in 2016. He had signed on as a free agent in San Jose the year before after spending parts of six seasons in LA.
Immediately, he was put on waivers, went unclaimed, and was assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. In 19 games, he scored six goals with nine assists. With the injury to Tyson Foerster, the Flyers needed someone to fill the lineup. He was called up.
Since then, Grundström has been on fire. He has appeared in 13 games for the Flyers. In those, he has scored seven goals with an assist in a bottom-six role. That puts him in ninth place for the team lead in goals despite playing only a third of the games. If he had those numbers translated for what everyone else had done, he'd have 21 goals already. His career high is 12 with the Kings in 2022-23.
He's never been close to a prolific scorer or a top-tier talent in LA or SJ. Somehow, for some reason, he is fitting in with Rick Tocchet and his teammates. Almost every game in the last month, you have seen his name somewhere in the stat sheets. He's playing well and far above what anyone expected.
The Flyers have found a knack for finding castaways that fit in well in Philly. Nick Seeler went from an afterthought to one of the most well-respected men on the team. Sean Walker went from a trade toss-in to a player who brought the Flyers a first-round pick in a trade. Zegras and Jamie Drysdale have reestablished their careers.
Grundström will be a free agent at the end of this season. He could be another person that the Flyers may decide to re-sign (he's currently making $1.8 million) or use him as trade bait at the deadline. He's on pace to set career highs all across the board. He's fitting in nicely here. Let's hope Briere can keep finding gems like this to make the Flyers better. Sometimes, all you need is a change of scenery to show you belong.