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Just in time for the NHL trade freeze this afternoon, the Flyers took action to sort out their blue line like we knew they had to – and that’s a big deal. The Flyers acquired Ryan Ellis from the Nashville Predators in a three-way deal including Las Vegas, and will drop defenseman Philippe Myers and center Nolan Patrick to do so.
[UPDATE: The Flyers themselves have now announced the trade, about an hour after initial reports.]
Lots of more thoughts on this to come in the near future, but let’s do a quick overview here:
Who is Ryan Ellis?
Ellis, 30, has spent his entire career with the Predators after being selected 11th overall in the 2009 NHL Draft. He definitely became a top-4 option around this time, building a reputation as a player with a strong defensive presence while also being a guy who can help play on offense (career 0.48 points per game). All this from a right-handed defender. He comes with injury issues – three of his last four seasons have seen him miss a lot of the time – but when he’s on the ice he makes a difference.
Ellis has an eight-year, $ 50 million contract and he will raise a cap of $ 6.25 million during the 2026-2027 season. He was seen as a potential commercial target for the Flyers since last season, when our own Eamon Smith explained why he made sense for the Flyers:
Ellis is everything Flyers fans want, no physique. He’s never going to be a guy who can really blast other players, but that’s not his game anyway. Concerns about Ellis are pretty straightforward: his skating might not age well and he has suffered many injuries over the course of his career, including the current lower body issue that puts him on the IR. Yet, when in good health, Ellis has been an impact player and would be the best skating defenseman for the Orange & Blacks since Chris Pronger. Who doesn’t want a guy who can make games like this with Nashville Predators legend Wayne Simmonds?
At the cost of two young players who had and still have good potential in the NHL but are coming out of pretty tough years, this seems like a risk for the Flyers to take. Ellis will be protected by the Flyers in next week’s expansion draft and immediately count in their top-4, possibly their best pair.
And what about what the Flyers gave up?
At the exit, two young players that we all know very well. Patrick, of course, was the Flyers’ prize for winning the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery, and he had two decent if not spectacular post-draft seasons before missing the entire 2019-20 season with headaches. Patrick returned to the ice for the 2020-21 season but was largely ineffective, accumulating nine points in 52 games.
Myers was a rough diamond find by Ron Hextall in the 2015 offseason, when he signed the Rouyn-Noranda defenseman in an ELC after going undrafted. His development more or less followed an upward trend from that point until he reached the NHL, and his near-full NHL first season (2019-20) was quite encouraging though inconsistent. , but he took a step back in 2020-21 and looked out of place far more often than you might have hoped.
These two guys still have good potential. It’s not that hard to see either one grow into productive NHL players like the Flyers thought they had when they got them. But at the end of the day you’re talking about two guys coming out of pretty tough seasons and having a pretty uncertain future ahead of them, and for them you acquire a guy who fills the biggest need you’ve ever had. enter the offseason. You do this trade every time.
What does that mean for the expansion draft and the rest of the offseason?
In terms of expansion, the changes aren’t entirely clear, especially up front. On defense, it’s pretty straightforward: Ellis will be protected in expansion, taking the place we all had reserved for Myers. In terms of attackers, it seems that Nicolas Aube-Kubel or James van Riemsdyk will get the place that belonged to Patrick. JVR is the better player, but we’ll see how ready the Flyers are to lose him in the name of more ceiling flexibility.
As for the rest of the offseason? Well, Ellis for Myers is adding a cap of $ 3.7 million to the Flyers’ books, which seems acceptable in return for the team’s response to their greatest need. The Flyers also still have their first round pick, which should be on the table to meet other needs up front or down the blue line. We’ll have more thoughts in the near future on what this means for the Flyers as they try to get back into the race.
To wrap this up for now, let’s check with our local Flyers / Predators correspondent for his thoughts on this trade.
Eamon Thoughts on Trade:
As a Nashville fan, I am amazed that David Poile failed to get anything more in return for a player of this caliber. While Viktor Arvidsson’s drop hinted at the start of the long-awaited teardown from this Predators roster, Ellis still seemed like a guy the team wanted to hang on to unless there was an outstanding comeback. Everything about this business screams that it was a panic move, but it’s similar to what people said about PK Subban’s business in New Jersey some time ago as well. The Predators may know something about Ellis that we don’t, and it’s important to take that into account.
With all of that in mind, it’s as close to a Chuck Fletcher slam-dunk deal as you might expect. The Flyers acquired a top pair defender in a way that caused non-existent damage to their existing blue line; the fact that the team was able to sell two players coming out of horrible seasons for an asset of this level is staggering. At first glance, it’s a front office masterstroke and emblematic of what fans expected of them this offseason. Even though the Flyers are no longer making any flashy moves, there is something to be excited about heading into 2020-21.
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