Nashville, Tenn. (October 3, 2011) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has assigned defenseman Ryan Ellis to the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals.

Ellis, 20 (1/3/91), posted one assist and a +3 rating while suiting up for five of Nashville’s 2011 preseason contests.

The transactions leave Nashville’s Training Camp roster at 26 players – 16 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. Players by position currently participating in camp are as follows:

FORWARDS (16): Niclas Bergfors, Martin Erat, Mike Fisher, Blake Geoffrion, Matt Halischuk, Patric Hornqvist, Sergei Kostitsyn, David Legwand, Cal O’Reilly, Craig Smith, Jerred Smithson, Nick Spaling, Zack Stortini, Jordin Tootoo, Colin Wilson and Kyle Wilson

DEFENSEMEN (8): Teemu Laakso, Jonathon Blum, Francis Bouillon, Mattias Ekholm, Jack Hillen, Kevin Klein, Ryan Suter and Shea Weber

GOALTENDERS (2): Anders Lindback and Pekka Rinne.

The Nashville Predators closed out their eight-game preseason with a record of 7-1-0, culminating with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Games start counting on Friday, Oct. 7 and Saturday, Oct. 8 with back-to-back road contests to open the 2011-12 regular season against Central Division foes Columbus (7 p.m. CT, FOX Sports Tennessee) and St. Louis (7 p.m. CT, FOX Sports Tennessee). The Preds home opener comes the following Thursday, Oct. 13 when the Phoenix Coyotes come to Smashville (7 p.m. on SportSouth).

 

The Milwaukee Admirals released the following statement on Ellis:

Milwaukee, WI— Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has assigned defenseman Ryan Ellis to the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals.

Ellis posted one assist and a +3 rating while suiting up for five of Nashville’s 2011 preseason contests and tallied a goal and an assist in seven playoff games with the Admirals last year. Last season he was named the OHL Defenseman of the Year for the second time in the past three seasons, capping a distinguished four-year career with the Windsor Spitfires. The Predators first round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Ellis led all defensemen in scoring and finished tied for fourth overall in the OHL with 101 points in 58 games, scoring 24 goals and 77 assists.  He became the first defenseman to score 100 points in a season since Jamie Rivers of the Sudbury Wolves recorded 121 points in the1993-94 campaign.

The Freelton, ON native established new career highs in goals, assists and points this season and finished his Spitfires’ career with 314 points (73g-241a), becoming just the third d-man in OHL history to record 300 points. Ellis won was also the league’s defenseman of the year in 2009 and guided Windsor to back-to-back Memorial Cup titles in 2009 and 2010. He also captained Team Canada to the silver medal in last year’s World Junior Championships, setting a new tournament record for a defenseman with 25 points and garnering WJC honors as the top blueliner.

The Admirals and Ellis kick off the regular season on Saturday, October 8th at 7:00 pm at the Peoria Civic Center against the Peoria Rivermen. The Ads commence the home portion of their schedule on Friday, October 14th at 7:00 pm at the Bradley Center against the Chicago Wolves. Fans can order tickets by calling Ticketmaster at (800)745-300 or by logging on to the Admirals website at www.milwaukeeadmirals.com. Don’t forget to follow the Admirals on Twitter (@mkeadmirals) and on Facebook!