Flyers acquire Ryan Ellis, trade Nolan Patrick and Phil Myers to Predators

The Flyers moved on from two players they once saw as potential franchise cornerstones on Saturday, trading Nolan Patrick and Phil Myers at the Nashville Predators for veteran defenseman Ryan Ellis.

Over the course of his 10-year career, entirely with Nashville, Ellis, 30, has scored 75 goals and earned a reputation as one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL. He only played 35 games last season due to a shoulder injury. Measuring five-foot-10, 180 pounds, he netted a career-high 16 goals in the 2016-17 season, when he helped the Predators reach the Stanley Cup final under the guidance of the former Flyers coach Peter Laviolette.

“Pretty shocked,” Ellis said. “I’ve never experienced this before, so overall surprised, shocked and at the same time excited. New challenge, new chapter.

Ellis signed an eight-year, $ 50 million contract with the Predators in August 2018, which means the Flyers will get the final six years of that deal at an average annual value against the $ 6.25 million salary cap. dollars. Coach Alain Vigneault will likely play him alongside Ivan Provorov to form the team’s No. 1 defensive pair.

“Ryan is a great all-around defenseman,” said Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher. “In our opinion, he’s one of the best passer in the game on the blue line. He’s great in transition. He can play the power play; he has a big blow. And he’s a very good penalty killer. He’s been in the leadership group in Nashville for some time. He is a competitive and team-oriented player.

That Fletcher had targeted a well-regarded defender in the commercial market was hardly a surprise. Last season, the Flyers allowed the most goals in the NHL (201) and were bottom in the league in save percentage (0.880). the East Division of eight teams and failed to advance to the playoffs. Throughout the 56-game campaign, Fletcher and Vigneault lamented that the team never adequately replaced retired defenseman Matt Niskanen, who had been Provorov’s partner in 2019-2020.

“They are a little different players, but they have similarities,” Fletcher said of Ellis and Niskanen. “Certainly, [Ellis] ticks many of the same boxes as Nisky. I think Ryan probably has a little more offense in his game than Nisky.

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Myers, 24, who the Flyers recruited as an undrafted free agent in 2015, had become one of their most promising young defensemen by the end of the 19-20 season. But he took a step back last season, when he scored one goal in 44 games and had a minus-10 rating.

Patrick, however, was the much bigger and more consequent disappointment. Second overall pick in the 2017 Draft, hampered by migraines and post-concussion effects, at just 22 years old, he has yet to live up to the expectations that accompanied his entry into the NHL. After collecting just 61 points in 145 games in his first two seasons with the Flyers, Patrick missed the entire season 19-20, scoring just four goals in 52 games in 20-21.

Upon acquiring Patrick, the Predators immediately traded him to the Vegas Golden Knights for center Cody Glass, who was the No.6 pick in that 2017 draft.

“Nolan has been through a lot of adversity,” said Fletcher. “Certainly a lot is out of his control. He’s taken care of some things that you don’t want on anyone, quite frankly. I still think he has his career ahead of him. In this case, we pushed him to acquire one of the best defensemen in the NHL.

The Flyers should have protected Patrick from being selected by the Seattle Kraken in the league expansion draft, which takes place Wednesday night. By trading Patrick, they opened up the possibility of protecting instead James van Riemsdyk, who tied for the team lead in points last season, with 43, and who scored 17 goals.