Flyers acquire Ryan Ellis, trade Nolan Patrick away

On Saturday, the Philadelphia Flyers strengthened their blue line by acquiring defenseman Ryan Ellis, but also traded away forward Nolan Patrick.

The Philadelphia Flyers aren’t waiting until free agency to. improve their club.

On Saturday, with rosters about to be frozen for the impending Seattle Kraken NHL Expansion Draft, Philadelphia general manager Chuck Fletcher made moves. The Flyers, long in search of defense, picked up stalwart blueliner Ryan Ellis from the Nashville Predators.

The Flyers made a big trade for defenseman Ryan Ellis

Ellis, 30, has never made an All-Star team but is a quality defenseman who will help the Flyers compete in the stacked Metro Division in 2021. Last year, he notched 18 points in 35 games during his 10th campaign with Nashville. Since 2012-13, he’s never had a negative plus/minus, and can play significant penalty kill minutes.

However, the Flyers had to give us young forward Nolan Patrick in the three-way deal, sending him to the Vegas Golden Knights. Philadelphia also jettisoned defenseman Philippe Myers to the Predators, while forward Cody Glass goes from Vegas to Nashville.

The headliner in the swap is certainly Ellis, but Patrick leaving Philadelphia is notable. In 2017, Patrick and Swiss center Nico Hischier were the consensus top two prospects, with the New Jersey Devils and Flyers holding the first two selections in that year’s draft, respectively. New Jersey took Hischier who is off to a fine start, while Patrick never got on track.

Still, Patrick is only 22 years old and despite injuries which have limited him to 197 games in his pro career, he has 30 goals and 70 points.