Photo Credit: Our very own Jamey Baskow
Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere traded a solid defenseman in Ivan Provorov for picks, Helge Grans, and Sean Walker. So just who is prospect Helge Grans, as he will be making his NHL Debut tonight for the Flyers?
Grans is a right-handed defenseman that is just 22-years-old and stands at 6’4, while weighing 205 pounds. He’s a sizable defenseman that likes to move the puck. Grans did not shy away from the offensive side of the puck in his NHL Debut.
He was actually speedy and blended right in. Grans tallied his first NHL point, on Tyson Foerster’s goal to pull the Flyers within one.
Grans just looked different during his NHL Debut, while being paired with Egor Zamula until he got hurt in the third period. The two looked cohesive, and Grans made the right plays. He was seeing stifling his opponents, and would transition up the ice nicely. Grans looked confident and poised, maybe all it took was one camp to get to know his teammates. It’s not easy being traded, so good for him for sticking with it.
This young puck moving defenseman is very gifted offensively. He reminds me of a player that Danny Briere was alluding to earlier in his press conferences in May of 2023, when he said that the Flyers would like to add young reclamation projects, like Owen Tippett for instance.
The prospect in Grans moves the puck reasonably well and is a solid defender. He uses his long stick effectively, and skates well given his size with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Grans has the ability to log big minutes, but he needs to learn how to pick his spots better. As stated above, he tries to be so good offensively, Grans makes bad pinches at times, which leads to odd man rushes the other way. He’s still young, so Grans is untapped with all this potential.
Grans was drafted 35th overall at the 2020 draft by the Los Angeles Kings. He has played well for the Phantoms, where he has reunited with former teammate in Emil Andrae. Both players played for the Swedish National Junior Team at one time, “Coming here, the more I realized that I need to focus more on the defensive zone,” Grans said at developmental camp. “I feel I’m getting more and more as a two-way defenseman, but more on the defensive side.”
Believe it or not, Grans is exactly the prospect the Flyers were talking about with obtaining youth reclamation projects, “Played good. Didn’t look out of place,” Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella said of Grans following his NHL Debut.
Whatever the case may be, Grans made an impression, which will only help him moving forward with Tortorella.
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Referee Mitch Dunning
From the NHL PR Team, “Referee Mitch Dunning was taken to hospital for precautionary reasons following a collision in the Flyers game. All neurological signs are normal, he is fully communicative and can move all his extremities.”
Prayers continue for Dunning for a full recovery.
