Philadelphia Flyers’ Ryan Ellis out for career-threatening injury

The Philadelphia Flyers will likely have to navigate the 2022-2023 NFL season without veteran defenseman Ryan Ellis. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher confirmed Thursday that Ellis sustained a potentially career-threatening injury.

Fletcher did not rule out the possibility for the defenseman to return before the season ends. However, in the meantime, the player “is out indefinitely”.

“Ryan Ellis is out indefinitely, no timetable for his return to play. My assumption is he won’t play this season. If he does, it’ll be a bonus,” Fletcher said, as quoted by NHL.com.

Fletcher then explained that Ellis’ injury had affected his back and abdominal area. Fletcher described the injury as “multifaceted”. He said he was adamant about the possibility of the injury being career-threatening for the defenseman, who was signed by the team only last year from the Nashville Predators.

“I know we’ve been probably vague with describing the injury. I think we’ve called it multifaceted, which it is,” Fletcher said.

As if it could not get any worse, Fletcher said Ellis’ injury was something that he had never heard of and “very complicated”.

“I’ve never heard of an injury like this. It’s very complicated. A torn psoas is a very significant injury for a hockey player, a very rare injury, so we’re doing the best we can, and we’ll just leave it up to the medical experts,” he said.

Fletcher said there were promising signs in Ellis’ recovery in the offseason back in April, with the player being optimistic that he might return this season. However, after undergoing various tests in June, an assessment of his pelvic region resulted in more uncertainty in his comeback to the rink.

“The rehab, there’s been ebbs and flows. I think he made progress earlier in the summer. I would say the last two months, there hasn’t been any visible signs of progress,” Fletcher said.