One of the few restricted free agent holdouts left on the docket has finally come back to his team's roster, as the Nashville Predators came to terms with defenseman Ryan Ellis on Thursday, just in time for the second half of training camp, some preseason games and most importantly, the hockey pool draft.
Ellis signed a new 5-year deal, worth $12.5 million, which works out to be a very reasonable, $2.5 million per season against the salary cap.
In the 2014 season, Ellis was able to play in 80 games for the Preds, scoring 6 goals and 21 assists for 27 points. In terms of the ranking system, the 23-year old finished 316th overall in scoring, 60th among all defensemen.Known as more of an offensive defenseman, many believe that he has more to give in his career offensively, now that he has found a way to be more comfortable as a smaller player in the league.
Now, being as though he is starting later on into training camp, he may be a little bit behind the rest of the crew, but if he can figure into some preseason action right away, the beginning of the season shouldn't be as rusty as it could have been. I have his projection up a little bit from the 2014 season, possibly getting up to 35 points this year.
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