Ryan Ellis Has A Jersey Number, And It's One Never Worn By Any Flyer Before
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Ryan Ellis isn't the first veteran defenseman acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers from the Nashville Predators who the organization hopes anchors their top defensive pairing (hello, Kimmo Timonen). But he will be the first player in franchise history to wear No. 94.
The Flyers said Tuesday the 30-year-old defenseman, acquired Saturday from Nashville, will wear No. 94.
Ellis wore No. 4 in Nashville, which is only one of six numbers retired by the Flyers. Philadelphia retired Barry Ashbee's No. 4 on Oct. 13, 1977.
The Flyers acquired Ellis on Saturday in a three-team trade by sending defenseman Philippe Myers and center Nolan Patrick to the Predators, who then flipped Patrick to the Vegas Golden Knights.
"Ryan is an excellent all-around defenseman. In our opinion, he is one of the best passers in the game on the blue line. He's great in transition. He can play the power play. He's got a heavy shot and he's a very good penalty killer," Fletcher said on a video conference call with reporters Saturday. "He's been part of the leadership group in Nashville for a while. He's a competitive, team-oriented type of player. We think he's a really well-rounded hockey player, a quality person and somebody that we feel very fortunate that we were able to add to our group today."
On Tuesday, Ellis met with Philadelphia reporters via a video conference call. The defenseman missed time last season with an upper-body injury that was reported to be a shoulder injury requiring surgery.
Ellis cleared the air on Tuesday. He did not suffer a shoulder injury and, in fact, didn't have surgery. Instead, he broke a knuckle on his left hand.
"I don't know what shoulder you're talking about," he said. "I shattered my knuckle last year, so that was what I missed time for. Other than that, no, I'm good. I'm healthy. I'm hungry and I'm happy and excited to be a member of the Flyers."
Ellis is expected to partner with Ivan Provorov on the Flyers' top defensive pair.
"At this point in my career, all I want to do is win and this organization has got a winning standard and expectations to do so," Ellis said. "For me, I'm going to try to play my game and help the team out any way I can going forward. If that's scoring goals or stopping goals, doing both, whatever it takes to help this team win."
