Photo Credit: Ricky Brown
A steady Right-Handed Defenseman in Ryan Ellis, who stands at 5’10 and weighs 180 pounds is a top pairing veteran Defenseman with Ivan Provorov, when healthy. That’s just it when healthy, as Ellis has only suited up for the Flyers in four games for the Flyers this season, and he’s out for the remainder of the season as expected. What remains to be seen is if he will return next season, as he is out for the season with a mysterious injury.
To me this is concerning, now there was speculation last night on TNT before the Flyers/Rangers game by Paul Bissonnette that Ellis has been out all season with a hip injury, but quickly corrected himself by saying it was a lower body injury. Which one is it? Why is this such a mystery and why is he not getting surgery, if it is still up in the air to do so, per Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher? These questions are very concerning for his health for next season or thereafter. The longer he delays surgery and hypothetically winds up getting it, eventually, it further delays his availability to start the season on time in the Fall possibly.
“He’s officially out for the season. Absolutely. We’re still working through some different options and the plan is still for him to be ready to play at the start of next season. Once things get finalized, we’ll be able to officially announce what we do.” – Chuck Fletcher
This Ellis situation is a weird one. From day to day, now week to week, to missing the entire season, all without knowing exactly what his injury is. All I know it’s a lower body injury, and fans are growing impatient, rightfully so. Little information is known, and there appears to a miscommunication of information.
Fletcher cannot guarantee that he will be ready for the start of training camp in the Fall, “That’s what his focus is and the focus of our medical team,” Fletcher says. “We’re just looking at different options here to get him healed up.”
It’s a shame, Ellis is a very good defender, and would help the Flyers immensely. However, he cannot help the team if he doesn’t play, and that’s just it there is no timeline for his return. The question remains, why didn’t he have surgery sooner to ensure he would be ready for training camp? Is his injury career threatening? I mean these are valid, concerning questions.
The Flyers cannot move one of Ivan Provorov or Travis Sanheim in the off-season with uncertainty surrounding Ellis. That wouldn’t be wise for this organization, to which some moves haven’t made sense as of late, but maybe this is why the Flyers re-signed Rasmus Ristolainen.
Ellis will stick up for his teammates, and also possesses good offensive instincts and great mobility. He can move the puck quickly out of danger, and owns a powerful point shot.
This 30-year-old Defenseman in Ellis is great with gap control. He suffocates his opponents, and has no problem transitioning from the defensive zone. Gone are the days the Flyers have trouble with getting out of their own end with him on the ice. Ellis is a great compliment to the young Ivan Provorov, as he can provide tutelage and mentor Provorov. Fletcher paid Nolan Patrick and Philippe Myers for the services of Ellis. Ellis has five years remaining after this one, with a cap hit of $6.25 million. Durability is worrisome from a fan base that knows they need a to pairing defender to pair with Ivan Provorov. Justin Braun has filled in admirably without the services of Ellis, but then again he’s not Ellis. The fan base has every right to be nervous about the next five years with the durability of Ellis.
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He was hurt last year, and nagging injuries have been a detriment to how good of a defenseman he really is. However, when healthy he’s a handful or a pest to deal with. He’s excellent with clearing the crease, and that’s an area that the Flyers need help in. Ellis provides experience for a young backend that the Flyers currently have (Average age 27.5 last season). He registered five goals, and 13 assists in 35 games played, as he missed 4-6 weeks with an upper body injury last season with the Nashville Predators.
All in all, let’s hope Ellis recovers quickly, and is ready for the start of training camp. One thing is certain it’s too risky to even think about trading one of Ivan Provorov or Travis Sanheim this offseason, due to the uncertainty surrounding Ellis.
The Flyers need a GM that can see around corners and pick other GM’s pockets right now . CF is not that guy ! It took 6 months to figure out PT wasn’t enough ?
CF is blind. Everyone else knew ab out Ellis’ health issues. Foolish Fletch chose to ignore those. He’s !@#$% dlueless. He traded Ghost and draft picks to dump salary? So he’s missing rebuilding pieces while Ghost has become one of Phoenix’s best players.
I get the feeling that Ellis didn’t want to leave Nashville, and after coming to this horrible Flyers team his nagging “injury” has enabled him to miss the season after only playing in four games. He was also not present for the Flyers team photo session.
I hope the future GM (since I pray that Fletcher is sacked after this horrible season) can trade Ellis. This trade was yet another Fletcher disaster. He is not a good GM.
They need to start from scratch. We have too little existing talent and non-existent pipeline talent. The talent evaluation capabilities of this team and scouts are horrendous.
I was at the Flyers-Rangers game in Our Building the other night. What I saw actually blew my mind but being a die hard fan I am grateful that I got to see it with my own eyes. When the Rangers scored their first goal the place erupted in cheers and all the blue jerseys in the stands stood up. It was amazing to see that many Rangers fans in Philly proudly and openly cheering their team on. As the game was winding down and the weak showing of Flyers fans were making their traditional run to the parking lot with 10 minutes left the ratio of Flyers fans to Rangers fans was turning in their favor. When the dismal game was over Flyers fans were out numbered by Rangers fans chanting in our hallway, Rangers chants echoing throughout Our Building. All I could think was this has to be rock bottom. The front office has to hear this, has to care, has to do something. It has to start at the top and the sooner the better. I am not surprised that fans have stopped going to the games, not everyone is a total freak like myself. I don’t mind storing up all the disappointment and resentment in hopes that someday the pay off will be that much sweeter but how much more do they expect us to take? Watching games without a coach, or captain, or any foreseeable future still does not seem to be enough for management to see the light. Asking your fans to put up with all the mismanagement and loss after loss is too much let alone asking them to be outnumbered and intimidated walking through the halls of Our Building? This should be absolute rock bottom. I look at the league stats and see players like G, Jake, and Ghost thriving and racking up points. I look at players like Simmons and Gudas still stirring the pot and getting their fans fired up. In the case of G and Ghost not only did we give them away for nothing or almost nothing we bundled up other assets to go along with them, begging teams to take our most dynamic players and throwing in extras? I don’t even know how you start to rebuild a team in this kind of shape. I do know that if Mr. Snyder could have witnessed the sites and sounds of those hallways on Wednesday night I can only imagine him saying “this is never going to happen to us again”. And they can not expect the people who destroyed this team to be the ones to save it.
Fletcher is the worst. When the trade for Ellis was made; i looked up this man’s track record; just to see what he had done in the past. One thing popped out at me. In ALL the years in Nashville; Ellis had only ONE SEASON where he played all 82 Games. IF im the GM; i DON’T make that Trade because of that alone. What Good is it if you have a World Class Defenseman that never hardly plays? Should have kept Hextall.