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Late yesterday afternoon, word was released that the Predators and Ryan Ellis had finalized a contract to stay with the team. Both sides settled on a five-year, $12.5M contract, with it being broken down as:
First Year – $1.5M
Second Year – $2M
Third Year – $2.5M
Fourth Year: $3M
Fifth Year: $3.5M

Back on the 20th, David Poile had stated that “we want Ryan Ellis. We’re not trading him. He fits here. We just disagree on dollars. It’s that simple” and it looks like – now that the dust has settled – that is what it truly came down to. Honestly, dollars walk hand-in-hand with business so don’t get irked if you think Ellis would’ve walked without coming out with $12.5M. Chances are, he probably would have if someone had offered him more money elsewhere. I know we’ve all tried blocking the “Weber Watch” of 2011 out of our minds, but both these situations are along the same lines. Hockey is a business and luckily, we dealt the right hand for Shea Weber three years ago and now Ryan Ellis yesterday.

Ryan Ellis is expected to join up with the team today at some point to get-to-gettin’ in some practice time with his fellow teammates through the rest of training camp.