Know your enemy: Penguins can’t overlook Nashville D Ryan Ellis

Today is Christmas Eve for hockey fans in Western PA and Tennessee as the 2017 Stanley Cup Final begins tomorrow evening at PPG Paints Arena. We all know the most prominent storylines:

• the Penguins’ quest to become the first team this century to win two straight Stanley Cups
• the first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final for Nashville
• Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the vaunted Pittsburgh offense
• P.K. Subban and the vaunted Nashville defense
• the jaw-dropping Nashville pump-up video deservedly torn apart by Rich Miller & Pensblog’s Video Analysis Department

In all likelihood, short of Matt Murray or Pekka Rinne posting seven combined shutouts, it will indeed be the Pens’ forwards and Preds’ blueliners deciding who hoists the Cup at the end of this series. Much of the focus will be on Subban and Mattias Ekholm battling Crosby’s line at even-strength to start the series.

Yet flying under the radar on Nashville’s second defense pairing are Roman Josi and in particular, Ryan Ellis, a duo that will likely have the equally difficult task of keeping the Malkin/Kessel-led second line in check. While Erik Karlsson was racking up 18 points to lead all Eastern Conference defensemen in the playoffs, Ellis (11), Josi (10) and Subban (10) quietly ranked 1-2-3 in the West. Ekholm’s eight points were good for sixth-best.

This is no accident. The Predators’ hallmark is patient development, especially with its defensemen. No one is rushed prematurely to the NHL. The three home-grown draft picks, Ekholm, Josi and Ellis, each played three more full seasons in either a top-tier national European professional league or the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) followed by a stint in the American Hockey League.

For Ellis, this meant two more seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Windsor Spitfires where he starred for a total of four years. Windsor won Canada’s national major junior championship, the Memorial Cup, back-to-back in 2009 and 2010 during Ellis’ tenure with a squad that also had Taylor Hall, Adam Henrique, Cam Fowler and Zack Kassian, coached by ex-Penguin Bob Boughner.

In his final junior season, Ellis simply dominated. He was named top defenceman in the OHL, CHL and World Junior Championship, player of the year in both the OHL and CHL, and was an OHL and World Junior Championship All Star. He finished with 313 career points, third highest among all OHL defencemen in history.

Coincidentally tonight, Windsor makes its first appearance in the Memorial Cup Final since Ellis was a member of their club. At the 2011 CHL Awards Ceremony, I spoke with Ellis about his professional debut with Nashville’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals.

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“It was a great experience, a different experience. I wasn’t used to joining a team at the end of a year. It was definitely a big step. I think going there in the thick of the playoffs and getting used to playoff speed was a great start for me in pro hockey,” Ellis reflected, not realizing how valuable the experience would be for him six years later as he prepares for the Stanley Cup Final.

Just 5’10” and 179 lbs., scouts were skeptical about his viability or durability as an NHL-calibre defenceman. “I still get those questions once in a while but I’m so far past anything like that. I’m more confident and things like that aren’t even in my rear view mirror anymore,” said Ellis, dismissing concerns about his relatively small stature.

The under-sized Ellis is not only surviving, but thriving as a solid all-around NHL defenseman. In addition to being the Predators’ top playoff point-scoring defenseman, his time on ice has increased for three straight seasons to the point where he clocks 24 minutes per game. He was Nashville’s top shot blocker in the regular season and continues to lead his squad in that category during the playoffs. His ability to get in the way of pucks will be obviously vital, especially against the Penguins’ power play, far superior to any of Nashville’s three previous opponents.

The same summer that Ellis graduated from junior to pro hockey, Tom Kuhnhackl, at the Penguins 2011 Rookie Tournament, railed against the German system of allowing too many foreigners on its pro hockey teams when I asked him about his home country. Yet when I mentioned Ellis, he praised his former Windsor teammate effusively. “Ryan Ellis is the best defenceman in the OHL at his age. I don’t know how to explain it. He’s just the best. If you play with him on the point [on the power play], you have way more confidence.

“He gives you the puck, I give him the puck,” Kuhnhackl excitedly explained, using his hands to diagram a typical game situation. “He can run plays; he can play passes he never expected from someone. He always helps you. He is a leader and he helped me a lot.”

Containing the Nashville defence, from the marquee Subban to the understated Ellis, will be priority #1 if Pittsburgh hopes to retain the Stanley Cup for one more year.