Philadelphia Flyers
More Bad News on Flyers’ Ryan Ellis; You Can Run with Gritty
It looks like Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ryan Ellis will miss the start of the season, but it is unknown how long he will be sidelined.
New coach John Tortorella reiterated to NHL.com on Monday what general manager Chuck Fletcher hinted earlier this summer: Don’t expect the Flyers’ top defenseman to be ready for the Oct. 13 opener against visiting New Jersey.
“If you’re asking me right now, I doubt it,” Tortorella said.
Ellis, 31, played in just four games last season because of a pelvic injury.
Tortorella doesn’t believe Ellis will be ready when training camp starts with on-ice activities Sept. 22 in Voorhees. Physicals will be held the previous day.
“I’ve had several conversations with Ryan Ellis, as far as how he’s doing,” Tortorella told NHL.com. “That’s been an up and down process for him.”
Tortorella said Ellis was “doing everything he possibly can to get ready for camp, (but) I’m doubtful that’s going to happen.”
That means when the season rolls around,Tony DeAngelo will probably play the right side next to Ivan Provorov on the top pairing.
Ellis is “more frustrated than anybody about this — that it just hasn’t been able to get straightened out,” Tortorella said.
When the Flyers held their exit interviews in late April, Ellis was upbeat. He said his doctors had finally figured out the “multi-layered” problem and that he wouldn’t need surgery.
He also said that, with a medical plan in place, he was excited for the first time in months.
Running with Gritty
On Monday, I tried to be optimistic about the Philadelphia Flyers.
No, I don’t think they are a playoff team, but I do believe they will improve over last season.
Colleague Dan Kingerski thought I had been kidnapped and that someone else had written the story.
You see, it’s difficult to be optimistic with the way this once-proud franchise has fallen into irrelevance among the city’s Big Four.
But, hey, I tried.
And today, I am writing about … Gritty?
Maybe I was kidnapped.
PHN: 5 Reasons Why Flyers Will Be Improved This Season
Anyway, I’m a softy for Flyers Charities. The people involved do great work for the area and should be saluted.
So what does that have to do with Gritty?
Well, you can run with the Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot on a 3.1-mile course and raise some money for good local causes.
Flyers Charities officially opened registration Monday for the Gritty 5K, presented by Penn Medicine. The fourth annual run-walk-jog will be held Oct. 22.
Kicking off with a confetti start, participants will run a course that will begin and end at the Wells Fargo Center Complex.
Organizers say there will be surprises, detours, and flying cakes along the way.
The course will loop through the Navy Yard, and will feature hot dogs, water (wooder in Phillyese), paint stations, and Gritty’s infamous caking.
There will be numerous prizes, including the Best in Fur award.
The Gritty 5K will again combine the typical in-person race format, along with a virtual aspect so fans can participate from anywhere in the world.
For $50 ($40 for kids), in-person participants will receive a custom T-shirt, a ticket to a 2022-2023 Flyers game, and a finisher’s medal.
To register, go to runsignup.com/gritty5k.
I don’t think the Flyers would have made a move for DeAngelo if there was a serious chance of Ellis being ready. Going over the cap by 2+ million on DeAngelo only works if Ellis is LTIRed. And they still need to sign Allison.
This becomes a tricky season. I guess it’s a year of trying to gauge uncertainties–which is kind of amusing in a sad way. Fletcher said he didn’t know what kind of team the Flyers were in 2020-2021. He doubled down and they actually got worse in 2021-2022. He’s basically doing the same thing for 2022-23, with the hopes that Torts can awaken a competitive fire that seemed to exist when AV took over the team.
Their success depends on the team being healthy, and players playing up to their potential, and younger players stepping up and improving. That’s asking a lot for a team that’s struggled in all those areas for the past 2.5 seasons. A misstep here or some bad luck there, and I think the team switches to burn it down mode and tries to move contracts and players for prospects and picks by the deadline. I don’t think Fletcher will be here to be making those moves–he’s delayed them in favor of engaging in denial. They can’t build a winning culture on wishful thinking and unmet expectations.
Would have NEVER Traded for Ellis had id been the GM and looked at this guys track record. In Ellises entire time in the NHL; he has played exactly one full season. ONE. Thats it. As far as Gritty goes; that thing looks like it was dreamed up by somebody coming out of PCP Withdrawl. Has to be the worst mascots in all of professional sports; not just Hockey. Cant the people currently running that Organization do anything right?
Sam, can you get clarification? Not being ready for camp while progressing well on rehab is one thing. Quoting Torts as saying “Ellis is more frustrated than anybody about this — that it just hasn’t been able to get straightened out,” (Tortorella said.) — is an entirely different thing. That means the rehab is not working.