When Ryan Ellis received word of his trade to the Flyers, his jersey number was probably one of the furthest things from his mind.
After all, Ellis has played every one of his 10 NHL seasons in Nashville and said he was shocked by the news.
"Once I’m settled and have my family all settled, everything’s kind of played out and I’m on the ice with the guys, I think that will be the time that everything kind of calms down for me personally," Ellis said Tuesday morning in his introductory press conference. "Knowing if my family's all set up and safe and sound — once that’s done, I'll be ready to go and even more excited."
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And he'll be rocking a jersey number Philly fans have never seen worn by a Flyer. When the deal went down Saturday, Ellis inevitably had himself a new number for his fresh Flyers sweater. Ellis wore No. 4 for nine of his 10 seasons with the Predators. However, No. 4 is Barry Ashbee's retired number in Flyers history.
Lo and behold, Ellis chose No. 94 for his new Flyers number.
Ellis wore No. 49 his rookie season in Nashville. His junior hockey number was No. 6 and it's retired by the OHL's Windsor Spitfires, but Travis Sanheim currently wears No. 6 with the Flyers. No Flyers player has ever donned No. 94, so you wonder if the element of uniqueness played into Ellis' decision.
During the next media availability with Ellis, we'll have to ask the Flyers' new top-pair defenseman the meaning behind the number.
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