The Nashville Predators have signed defender Ryan Ellis to an eight-year
contract extension worth $50 million, the team announced Tuesday. The contract
will come with an annual cap hit of $6.25 million and will kick in at the start
 of the 2019-20 season. Ellis is currently in the final year of the five-year,
$12.5 million contract he signed in Oct. 2014.

The beard is back! #Preds sign defenseman Ryan Ellis to eight-year contract. 

📖 - https://t.co/IolYgXlsRX pic.twitter.com/QQn1BAEjrH

- Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) August 14, 2018

Ellis has played in 369 games with the Predators in his career, entering the
league in 2011-12 with three goals and 11 points in 32 games. The 2009
first-round draft pick has become a well-rounded two-way defender who has a
tendency to score goals and play a solid brand of two-way hockey in one of the
best defensive cores in the entire league.

In his career, he';s scored 55 goals and 173 points and has been a mainstay on
the Predators'; blue-line for years. With this new deal, the Predators are
committing to him for the long-haul and we shouldn';t be seeing Ellis wear
another team';s colors any time soon if at all as this could realistically be
Ellis'; last contract in the league.

"Ryan is a huge part of our team on and off the ice and we are happy to have
his leadership remain in our locker room for the foreseeable future," general
manager Dave Poile said. "We have talked about wanting to keep the core of our
 team together, and this is another opportunity to help us do so while
continuing to compete for a Stanley Cup. Ryan is entering his prime and is one
of the reasons why we feel this team has a chance to win every time we step on
the ice."Ellis and Predators Win With This Contract

This deal is good for both sides as the Predators are getting Ellis locked up
to an affordable cap hit in the prime of his career - though, of note, the deal
 won';t kick in until Ellis is in his age 28/29 season. There';s always
risk associated with eight-year terms, especially when players are already in
their late-20s. With that said, the term likely got Ellis under contract for a
smaller cap number and given the fact that all 30 other teams in the NHL would
have made a call to Ellis as a free agent, the Predators were right in acting
quickly with this deal.Ryan Ellis has signed a long-term contract extension
with the Nashville Predators(Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)

Of note here, the Washington Capitals recently locked up defenseman John
Carlson to an eight-year contract of his own that';s set to kick in this
season. While the term is the same in these two deals, the cap number is
significantly different as Carlson is set to receive $64 million over the life
of his deal, $14 million more than Ellis will.

While Carlson has proven to be a more consistent offensive point producer,
Ellis has proven to be the more well-rounded player of the two - whether that
comes as a result of him playing in such a stacked defensive system in
Nashville is up for discussion. Either way, Poile was able to lock up Ellis to
a very good cap number and it';ll be interesting to see how the deal looks a
few years from now.

The post Ellis Signs Contract Extension With Predators appeared first on The
Hockey Writers.

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