As the regular season comes to a close, things just keep getting weirder and weirder with the Ryan Ellis situation. The prize of the offseason, the defenseman that was going to solve all the Flyers’ problems and form a formidable duo with Ivan Provorov, has been injured for all but four games this season. One would have assumed that surgery would’ve been on the table, especially since he’s been off the ice since November, but with the Flyers either being mum or clueless to his actual injury, there’s a real chance that the defenseman isn’t even ready for training camp in the fall. If that wasn’t bad enough, he hasn’t been around the team either, and has been rehabbing away from the team a la Nate Thompson (who reportedly rehabbed his shoulder injury in Los Angeles).
It all started with what the Flyers believed was an injury that occurred during one of their pre-season matches. That was unknown to us until the end of October when Ellis surprisingly went from day-to-day to week-to-week. It wasn’t believed to be a serious injury, hence the day-to-day designation. Then all of a sudden, still without an explanation, general manager Chuck Fletcher announced that he was to week-to-week. Week-to-week then turned into 4-6 weeks at the beginning of November but it was speculated that surgery wasn’t required. At that point in time, Ellis had missed 10 of the last 11 games and there was still optimism that he’d be able to return in-and-around that timetable.
Then-head coach Alain Vigneault told the media that surgery wasn’t required and that he would most likely be rehabbing for the next 4-6 weeks. With not much else coming out of the front office, it was then believed that Ellis would make his return somewhere in January. As the end of his perceived timeline was coming to a close, the Flyers hadn’t mentioned a thing about their number one defenseman. Nothing was known, it seemed like the world’s biggest secret, and the fact that he didn’t go under the knife for surgery, for what seemed to be a pretty bad injury, seemed a little odd. Add in his injury history from the Nashville Predators and things started to make less and less sense.
At that point in time, the Flyers had already announced that Sean Couturier would miss the rest of the season after successfully undergoing back surgery. Couturier had played in the Flyers’ first 29 games of the season, where he had recorded 5 goals and 12 points in his first 10 games and then struggled to the tune of 1 goal and 5 points in his final 19. There was something visibly wrong with him, and you could tell he was playing through an injury. He was constantly frustrated, looked slower than usual, and he wasn’t making the routine plays he was always known to make. At least with the Flyers top centreman, we knew what was wrong, the team had no qualms in making it public, and surgery went without a hitch.
Kevin Hayes’ season wasn’t easy by any stretch of the means either. Hayes had undergone surgery last May after it was discovered that he had a core muscle tear. The surgery was successful, but he re-injured it in September. He ended up missing the team’s first 12 games as he was placed on LTIR. Upon his return to the lineup, Hayes didn’t look like the same player the Flyers had signed in the summer of 2019. He wasn’t able to make the same plays with relative ease and he looked sluggish and a lot slower. Just like Couturier, it turned out that Hayes was also playing through injury as the surgical area had been infected and it spread all throughout his groin. He remained in the lineup for the next 20 games before exiting once more, this time in January, to tend to his injury. He had to go under the knife again to clear up the infected area. Once again, the Flyers had no qualms in discussing his injury, going through surgery, and being able to be as transparent as possible.
In March, it was reported that Ellis was not making any progress on his injury or his rehab and then right after the trade deadline the Flyers announced that they were shutting him down for the rest of the season. Since then, the rumour mill has been churning and it’s is believed that Ellis was unhappy about the trade to Philadelphia. It has nothing to do with the Flyers necessarily but he was a little blindsided by the deal, considering he was a Predator-lifer, had just recently signed his six-year extension, was playing with Roman Josi, and trade talks regarding Ellis were very mum. It is also believed that he was unhappy with the Flyers’ medical staff, has been away from the team for awhile, and has been given the choice of surgery from the Flyers but hasn’t accepted it or has no want-to to get it done. There are also rumours about why the Flyers only had to trade Nolan Patrick and Phil Myers for such a “stud” and it’s believed that Fletcher might’ve been aware of the injury before the trade but disregarded it because that was “his guy”. Finally, it has also been reported that some people within the organization don’t even know what’s wrong or what’s going on. Take it with a grain of salt of course, but it has been reported by some reputable sources.
So what do the Flyers do now? If he isn’t going to be ready for training camp or even the start of the 2022-23 season then the Flyers surely have to throw a wrench in their big off-season plans. Rasmus Ristolainen’s extension is believed to have been more of a safety net considering the Ellis injury, his questionable return, and the fact that Ristolainen is a right-hand shooting defenseman. Ivan Provorov’s name has been all over the rumour mill as well, but now that Ellis might not return, should the Flyers trade their perceived number one defenseman after Ellis? They can’t trade Travis Sanheim either after his meteoric rise after the dismissal of Alain Vigneault.
The Flyers have to go into this offseason with the idea that Ellis won’t be back, and with very limited cap space or future assets to trade, the aggressive re-tool is going to be very tough to execute. With $8 million in cap space and a slew of RFAs to extend, the Flyers have to find different means to open up cap space and that will most likely mean the end for James van Riemsdyk, maybe Oskar Lindblom, and who knows where Fletcher stands with Travis Konecny anymore. Konecny has also risen after the dismissal of Vigneault, as he currently leads the team in points and his contract is very team-friendly. However, he is also the only player that holds really good trade value and the only player the Flyers can really trade to get something of value in return. Let’s also not forget that Fletcher almost pulled the trigger on a deal surrounding Konecny last summer, and even told the player about it before the season started, so we know Fletcher has been close to dealing the young forward.
Couturier, Hayes, and Joel Farabee aren’t going anywhere, the rest of the forwards are either too young, are going to walk in free agency, or don’t have enough value. If the Flyers have to stand pat on Provorov and Sanheim because of the catastrophic domino effect that would have on the back end, then how do Fletcher and Dave Scott pull off their inane re-tool? For those looking for a rebuild, maybe this was the news that was needed to open the eyes of Flyers management but at the same time, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. If Ellis is truly unhappy about the trade itself, is away from the team, unhappy with the medical staff, and hasn’t volunteered for surgery; things don’t look too good right now. Obviously things can change in a snap second, but it looks like the Flyers might have to get even more creative in the offseason to fix the many problems currently afflicting them.
