Per Nashville Predators Head Coach Barry Trotz, 2009 first round pick Ryan Ellis will start the 2011-12 season with the Milwaukee Admirals.
“His last game was his best game,” said Trotz. “As the competition got better and better, he got better and better. So we’ll just allow him to grow, just like we did (Shea) Weber and (Ryan) Suter.”
Since Ellis has been sent down, Preds fans now wait for the news on Mattias Ekholm and where he’ll play.
Ekholm was the Rookie of the Year in the Swedish Elite League (generally considered the second best league in the world) last year and appeared to be NHL-ready coming into September. While he could stand to learn the North American sized rink at the AHL level, he has a clause in his contract that states he could return to Sweden if he doesn’t make the NHL.
“We’ve still got a couple days,” said Trotz.
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SPECIAL THANKS to Ryan Porth of Smashville247.net for posting the audio of Coach Trotz‘s press conference.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Fuqua // special to section303.com (used with permission)