To no true fault of his own, Ryan Ellis’s time as a Philadelphia Flyer has been nothing short of an incredible disappointment. Acquired from Nashville last year during the offseason in a three-team trade, the Flyers landed the veteran defenseman in hopes that he would join Ivan Provorov on the top pairing and make a real turnaround with the defense.
Yet despite all the high hopes surrounding the team when Ellis joined Philadelphia, his start in the City of Brotherly Love has consisted of major injuries that continue to keep him sidelined for the foreseeable future. The Flyers sent defenseman Philippe Myers and former second overall pick Nolan Patrick to the Nashville Predators in the trade for Ellis.
The Predators then traded Patrick to Vegas for Cody Glass and eventually traded Philippe Myers to the Tampa Bay Lightning this offseason in exchange for veteran defenseman Ryan McDonaugh. If not for all of the injuries, this trade would certainly have been very beneficial for all three teams involved, but instead it seems the Predators are the only team who have truly gotten better thus far.
Due to what has been reported as a “multilayered” injury to “the whole pelvic region” of Ryan Ellis, the veteran blue liner was only able to suit up for four total games throughout the duration of the 2021-22 NHL regular season. In those four games, Ellis recorded 5 points (1 G 4 A) and +2 and avoided taking any penalties too. With just a small taste of what Ellis could be for the Flyers, it’s more than apparent that if Ellis gets healthy and stays healthy, the entire Philadelphia defense improves greatly.
Ellis last played on November 13th, but GM Chuck Fletcher has said the Flyers have put together a solid recovery plan for Ryan Ellis that does not involve any surgeries and could allow him to be ready to hit the ice when training camp begins in Philadelphia. With 275 points in 566 career regular season games, as well as only 189 total career penalty minutes, Ellis is proven to be an effective top pairing defenseman on both ends of the ice who consistently plays most of the season’s games plus playoffs.
His first year in Philadelphia wasn’t one for the records, but Ellis is locked under contract until 2026 and has plenty of time to make his presence known to the Metropolitan Division and rest of the Eastern Conference. As all Flyers continue to hope his recovery goes smoothly from here on out, it will be very easy to see the impact he has on a team if he is able to remain healthy and play games for the same team that finished in the bottom-five of the NHL standings last season.