Nashville Predators lose defenseman Ryan Ellis for ‘several months’ due to offseason surgery

The 26-year-old defenseman will need more time to recover from a knee injury.

The Nashville Predators will be without top defenseman Ryan Ellis for the first half of the upcoming 2017-18 NHL season. The team announced Ellis’ status Thursday afternoon, citing recovery from a lower-body injury as the cause.

Predators general manager David Poile gave Jan. 1 as the estimated timeline for Ellis’ return.

The 26-year-old defenseman had career-high numbers last season in Nashville, where he posted 16 goals and 38 points. Ellis was fifth-best on the Predators last season in goal-scoring after playing in 71 games. In the postseason, Ellis posted 13 points in 22 games as the Predators came two wins away from a Stanley Cup Final victory.

Ellis was injured during Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final but played in the final game of the series despite nursing a lower-body injury. It’s very likely the same lower-body injury sustained back in June is the one keeping Ellis out of the Predators lineup, as the defenseman underwent knee surgery in late June.

The loss of Ellis is a blow to the Predators’ top four. Nashville is deep at the blue line still with P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, and Mattias Ekholm, but Ellis played nearly 24 minutes a night for the Predators during the regular season. Poile likely knew Ellis’ knee would take a while to recover from, as the Predators did add Alexei Emelin to their roster on July 1.

Many originally believed the Predators were stocking up to trade for Matt Duchene, though that plan will now have to be thrown out the window if that was the case.