The Philadelphia Flyers announced that defenceman Ryan Ellis is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. According to head coach Alain Vigneault, Ellis was reinjured while playing against the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
Injury update: Per AV, Flyers defenseman Ryan Ellis suffered a re-injury on Saturday vs. Dallas and is now considered week-to-week.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 15, 2021
Ryan Ellis Injured
Prior to Saturday, Ellis had been out with an unspecified lower-body injury since mid-October. He played just three games at the beginning of the season. Although the Flyers did attempt to ease Ellis back into the lineup by placing him on the third pairing, it seems like he wasn’t quite ready to return in the first place.
So far this season, Ellis has scored one goal and four assists for five points through four games. He has no penalty minutes. His possession numbers were 51.7 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of 6.3.
Over his 10-year NHL career, Ellis has played for the Nashville Predators and Philadelphia Flyers. He has 75 goals and 195 assists for 270 career points in 562 career games. He was originally drafted by the Nashville Predators in the first round, 11th overall in the 2009 NHL draft.
What This Means for the Future
When the Flyers traded for Ellis during the offseason, they were fully aware of his injury history. Though he had not played a full season since 2018-19, Philadelphia hoped that he would be able to stay healthy and provide a stable counterpart for Ivan Provorov on the first pairing. However, with Ellis’ unfortunate re-injury, the Flyers now find themselves in a difficult spot.
In the short term, Justin Braun might be a viable option to fill Ellis’ role. (The Flyers will also presumably call up Nick Seeler again to pair with Keith Yandle.) Braun partnered with Provorov after Ellis’ initial injury and has been remarkably solid thus far. Still, he may not be capable of playing out an entire season with first-pairing minutes. Last season saw him struggle as he shouldered a heavier workload through more games.
Hopefully, Ellis will be back sooner rather than later. But for the Flyers, who have been relying heavily on defence as their offence sputters, losing him again now is an inopportune blow.
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