Bizarre 3 player trade on Sunday afternoon.

There has been a trade in the National Hockey League.

According to a report from NHL insider Chris Johnston, the San Jose Sharks and Philadelphia Flyers have pulled off a 3 player trade on Sunday afternoon. This is a bit of a strange one with Ryan Ellis, a player that has not played since 2021, being dealt to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for both Carl Grundstrom and Artem Guryev being sent back the other way.

Ellis is in the 7th year of an 8 year contract with an average annual value and cap hit of $6.25 million per season, which means that the Sharks will be on the hook for his cap hit both this season as well as next season.

Grundstrom, the only active NHL player in this deal, is coming off of a 56 game season with the Sharks in which he recorded 3 goals and 6 assists for a total of 9 points last season. Grundstrom is in the final year of a 2 year deal that carries an average annual value and salary cap hit of $1.8 million per season.

Artem Guryev is also in the final year of his deal, a 3 year contract, one that carries an average annual value and cap hit of $860,000 per season. However the 22 year old defenseman has not played at the NHL level and in fact spent all of last season in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder.

This not only gives the Flyers the best player in the deal but also provides them with a savings against the salary cap, raising questions about why the Sharks are making this move at all. It could very well be that the Sharks were looking to make roster space for an upcoming waiver claim, but that is only speculation on my part at this time.