Ryan Ellis is expected to miss the entire Flyers season with career threatening injury

The news wasn’t surprising to hear but the Flyers do not expect to see Ryan Ellis on the ice at all this season. The multi-layered issue that he has been dealing with since the beginning of last season will indeed not allow him to play. Speaking Thursday morning, Chuck Fletcher said it would be a bonus if he ends up finding a way to suit up at all.

It was also the first time we got some sort of clarity into what Ellis has been dealing with. An injury that was listed as “multi-layered” has now been described as a torn psoas, as well as issues with the hips and adductor region. It is something that Fletcher mentioned he hasn’t seen before. A torn psoas, which is a muscle in the back, is very rare and can make it difficult to stand up in an upright position.

"“He made progress earlier in the summer. I would say the last two months, there hasn’t been any visible signs of progress. It’s been a frustrating injury. Nobody is more frustrated than Ryan. Nobody wants to play more than Ryan. But we’re dealing with reality now. He’s not skating so clearly he’s a long way away.” Fletcher said on Thursday morning."

As expected, the Flyers’ move to bring in Tony DeAngelo this offseason was due in large part to the expected absence of Ellis this year. He will almost certainly make up the top pairing with Ivan Provorov, something that Ellis attempted to do for the few games that he was in the lineup.

When Ellis spoke at the end of last season, he shared a lot of excitement and positivity about what could come next and how happy he was to be with the Flyers. And then we didn’t hear much else throughout the offseason. Considering it has been about two months since they’ve seen any progress, all parties involved likely knew what to expect next.

Coming to a new team can take some time to get used to, especially when you’ve spent your entire career with one team. Add in only being able to play a handful of games in year one and now missing year two, there’s no doubt that it can way heavily on a player. Especially when it means you are separated from teammates that you have barely gotten to know since getting here.

"“Obviously you want him to be healthy, you want him to be playing for us. He’s an established player in the league, a veteran guy. He’s an unreal defenseman. So obviously a huge loss if he doesn’t play for us.” Carter Hart said after Thursday’s practice."

Hart added that the team was able to see him a few weeks ago as Nicolas Deslauriers hosted a group get-together. He mentioned that Ellis was there with his family and seemed to be in good spirits. At this point, that is all that can be expected. Especially with the potential of this being a career-ending injury for Ellis. His health, both now and long term is the most important thing to focus on.

Sean Couturier to see specialist, Patrick Brown week to week

Aside from the big news on Ryan Ellis, Fletcher spoke on a few other injuries plaguing the Flyers. Sean Couturier will be seeing a specialist for a second opinion to determine what the next step will be. They know it is in the same area as his previous injury, but not if it is related to it.

Patrick Brown had offseason back surgery and the timeline for his return isn’t known at the moment. He is considered week to week. He is currently rehabbing and has not been cleared for contact at this time.

Joel Farabee has been cleared but is non-contact right now. They’ll determine when to allow him to have contact based on how he feels. But he has been making great progress. He did take part in the lengthy skating drill during the opening day of camp.

Bobby Brink is nine weeks post-op from surgery but does still have a December/January timetable. The next step will be to do on-ice rehab which should come soon.

It has to be hard for the Flyers to not have that “here we go again” feeling in regards to the number of injuries they already have. Farabee spoke on the mentality they need to have, especially with the fact that the season hasn’t even begun yet.

"“I think everyone right now is really just focusing on what they can bring to the team, this camp and what they can show Torts. I think just focus on that right now. You can’t dwell on what’s going on with other stuff like that. Just focus on this camp and we’ll go from there.”"

The Flyers are likely to have a large amount of younger players in the lineup. There’s a potential to have at least 10 players 25 years of age or younger on the roster. Those could include players like Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, Cam York, and Egor Zamula. It looks like it’ll be yet another season of hoping the young players can develop and that some of the veteran players step up even more.

Buckle up, the ride has only just begun.