Flyers

Alain Vigneault Says Ryan Ellis Recovery Taking “A Little Bit Longer Than We Anticipated”

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Nov 1st, 2021 · 2:21 PM EDT

---

The Flyers are back at home after picking up two wins on their three-game Western Canada road swing. You’ll take that 100 times out of 100.

They’ve got the stinky Coyotes at home tomorrow, a team that currently has zero wins through nine games. They should be just fine with their assembled crew, though defenseman Ryan Ellis still is not available, despite traveling with the team to Alberta and British Columbia.

Said Alain Vigneault on Monday:

“He’s not playing. If I would have known prior to the road trip that he wasn’t going to play, we wouldn’t have brought him. We would have kept him here to have him do his rehab here, instead of him going through those late nights and etcetera. We thought that there was a possibility. That’s why we brought him, but it didn’t work out. It’s taken a little bit longer than we anticipated. I said day-to-day last week and now we’re week-to-week and hopefully we make some strides here in the next couple of days and he’s able to help us in the near future.”

Vigneault said Ellis did not have a set back.

“As far as I can understand, from (Director of Medical Services Jim McCrossin), it’s just taken a little longer to heal than he expected. When Ryan’s ready to play he’ll let us know, because obviously he wants to play and help his teammates.”

If Ellis can’t complete Wednesday’s practice, he won’t go on the road swing to Pittsburgh and Washington. They’ll likely go with Provy and Justin Braun again as the first D pair, then the Sainheim/Risto pair, followed by Keith Yandle and Nick Seeler.

A look at how Ryan Ellis is moving. He’s getting in rehab work here with Danny Briere and Kevin Hayes.

Ellis has missed the last four games with an undisclosed injury that appears to be lower body. pic.twitter.com/AQh5Ca3ody

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) November 1, 2021