The Flyers never replaced defenseman Matt Niskanen after his surprising retirement in Oct. 2020 and they suffered for it. Not just in the defensive end of the ice, but for losing someone who can move the puck too. Ellis is a much better version of that defenseman, and despite the fact he’s turning 31 next January, he’s a fantastic acquisition for the Flyers.
In a typical season, Ellis is good for over 23 minutes of ice time per game, over 30 points per season and helps his team at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill. He’s going to be able to anchor whatever defensive pairing on which he plays. He’s coming off a rough season, but his previous three seasons saw him stealthily emerge as one of the NHL’s better defensemen, and an analytics darling, driving offensive play for the Predators.
Every trade made under a flat salary cap needs to be scrutinized financially, and Ellis gives the Flyers cost certainty through 2026-27 at $6.25 million against the salary cap. Granted, that takes him into his later 30s, but for now it’s a great defenseman at a great cap hit, and the Flyers are certainly looking at the now given the makeup of this roster.
The cost was potentially high. The Flyers liked Myers, 24, and Patrick still has a world of promise despite never coming close to fulfilling the lofty expectations of his second overall draft position in 2017. (But more on that in the Vegas section.)
“I don’t think we gave up on Nolan. We acquired one of the best defensemen in the National Hockey League,” said GM Chuck Fletcher on Saturday. “He’s what we need at this time.”
GM David Poile wanted to get younger. Myers and Glass makes him younger; and in Myers’ case bigger, as they add a 6-foot-5 defenseman to their back end.
He clearly wanted more cap flexibility and shipping out a contract he was tied to through 202627. In fact, Nashville trading away Ellis and Viktor Arvidsson, who went to the Los Angeles Kings earlier in the month, has cleared $10.5 million in cap space.
“We felt it was time for a change to our core this offseason,” said Poile.
One assumes the changes won’t end here.
Make no mistake: Ryan Ellis is an outstanding defenseman when healthy. There were times in recent memory when he was the hipster pick for best defenseman on the Predators, a team with a Norris Trophy winner in Roman Josi. But the Predators are clearly looking to reshape their roster after diminishing recent returns, acknowledging that they need to enter the next phase of the team after their contending window may have closed with the current core.
Financial flexibility and younger players are a good step forward — and getting Glass for Patrick is a nice bit of business, not only for the 22-year-old center’s potential, but because he’s exempt from the expansion draft.
The Golden Knights told us everything we needed to know about where Glass fit on their roster when he spent the entire playoffs in street clothes, even when the team was desperate for offense against the Montreal Canadiens — including on the power play. If that didn’t mean they were done with him, it certainly meant they would sacrifice him in a millisecond in the right trade.
And GM Kelly McCrimmon getting a chance to acquire a former second-overall pick from the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League — the junior team he owned — is clearly the right trade in the Knights’ eyes.
The grade here is mostly for who Nolan Patrick is, rather than what the Knights believe he can become. He has 70 points in 197 NHL games. He was a bottom-six forward for the Flyers after returning from a migraine disorder that kept him out from April 2019 through January 2021. His coach clearly didn’t give him a sporting chance to develop into a top-flight offensive center. His current general manager wasn’t there when the Flyers drafted him, and just shipped him out for a 30-year-old defenseman.
He’s a player in need of a fresh start. He’ll get one, potentially with Mark Stone on his right side. He’s a player in need of support from his team, and he’ll get that with McCrimmon at the helm.
Again, we can’t go too high here because Nolan Patrick is what Nolan Patrick is at this time, and there have been health concerns for him in his career. But there was a time when another No. 2 overall pick was traded from an Eastern Conference team to a Western Conference team, and soon found himself among the NHL’s All-Stars. Granted, Tyler Seguin had already had more offensive impact than has Patrick in his first three seasons. But it’s just a reminder what the right fit can do to unlock potential.
CINCINNATI — Rookie Chase Burns became the first starting pitcher in the expansion era to strike out the first five batters he faced in his major league debut.
He was not able to carry the momentum through the rest of the game.
The 22-year old Cincinnati Reds right-hander, the second overall pick in last July’s amateur draft, allowed three runs over five innings Tuesday night in a 5-4, 11-inning win over the New York Yankees.
Burns struck out his first five batters before Jazz Chisholm Jr‘s single. He gave up six hits and struck out eight, the seventh Cincinnati starter to have at least that many in his first career start.
“We watched for everything,” Reds manager Terry Francona said of Burns. “He didn’t get too excited. I think he enjoyed the competition. There’s a lot to like.”
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Burns also joined the Yankees’ Al Leiter and Tampa Bay’s Wade Davis as the only pitchers since 1961 whose first six outs in their debuts were strikeouts. Both gave up a run during the first two innings.
Burns struck out seven of the his first 10 hitters and allowed only one hit until Ben Rice led off the fourth by connecting on a hanging slider that went 413 feet and two-thirds of the way into the right field sun deck at Great American Ball Park.
Aaron Judge followed with a base hit. Burns retired the next two hitters, Chisholm got aboard with a single and Anthony Volpe hit a two-run triple when center fielder TJ Friedl made an ill-advised dive and the ball got by him.
“I think he’s a good pitcher,” Francona said. “I don’t think him giving up a couple runs is going to make somebody fold. If that was the case, we wouldn’t have brought him up.”
Burns averaged 98.1 mph with 48 fastballs, topping out with a pair at 100.1 mph in the first inning. He threw 24 sliders, eight changeups and one curveball. New York was 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in his first time through the order and 5-for-9 with a triple and home run the second time through.
Burns threw 53 of 81 pitches for strikes. His first big league pitch was a 98.4 mph fastball to Trent Grisham that just caught the inside corner of the plate. He got Judge to chase a 91.1 mile slider for the third out in the first inning.
“I guess you have to say Judge. I have watched him. He’s a big dude and one of the best hitters in the game,” Burns said when asked if any one strikeout stood out more than the others. “It was probably my favorite one.”
Burns fell behind 3-0 on three of the first 10 batters before ending up with strikeouts, and started 11 of 21 batters with strikes and induced 12 swing and misses. He is the fifth first-round selection from last year’s draft to reach the majors, joining Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz, Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone, Angels second baseman Christian Moore and Astros outfielder Cam Smith, who was selected by the Cubs before going to Houston in the Kyle Tucker trade last December.
“Of course,” Bochy said. “He’s a weapon whether he starts or he’s in the bullpen, but he’s stretched out. You’ve heard me say he’s got starter’s stuff.”
Latz took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Tuesday night against Baltimore, and although the Rangers blew a four-run lead, they recovered to win 6-5 in 10 innings. Latz set career highs in innings pitched (six-plus) and pitches (88) and lowered his ERA on the season to 3.22.
“I don’t know the plans going forward. I was kind of just trying to soak it all up today,” Latz said. “It was just a lot of fun out there.”
In his third career start and second of the season, Latz didn’t allow a hit until Ramon Laureano singled to center to start the bottom of the seventh. A walk later, Latz was removed, but a 4-0 Texas lead didn’t last much longer.
Latz walked three and struck out four — including the last three hitters of the fifth inning. His previous longest outing in the majors was Thursday, when he threw 5 2/3 innings of relief in a loss to Kansas City.
“That’s one of the better jobs in all of baseball — to be a starting pitcher,” Latz said. “I’m not going to say I don’t want to be a starting pitcher. Obviously I do. I’m comfortable either way obviously. If it’s in the rotation, it’s great.”
MILWAUKEE — Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz said he lost track of the outs when he didn’t run out a double-play grounder, a move that led to his removal in his club’s 9-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
The Pirates trailed 7-3 and had a runner on first with one out in the seventh when Cruz grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Cruz slowed down after the Brewers got the force play at second, and he said afterward he believed that was the third out of the inning.
Pirates manager Don Kelly removed Cruz in favor of a defensive replacement in the eighth inning and said it was due to Cruz’s “energy and effort going down the line.” Cruz said after the game he understood Kelly’s decision.
“DK had all the rights to do what he did, and I’ll back him up on that,” Cruz said through an interpreter. “It was my fault because I thought there were two outs in that situation. That’s why I let off running to first base.”
Kelly said he explained to Cruz the reason for the benching.
“We talked,” Kelly said. “He knows the expectation. Right there, I feel we fell a little short.”
When he was asked whether Cruz would be back in the starting lineup Wednesday, Kelly was noncommittal.
“We’re going to sit down and talk, and we’ll figure that out,” Kelly said.
Cruz, 26, has batted just .156 (12-of-77) with 31 strikeouts this month after having a productive start to the season that included owning a .911 OPS in early May and hitting a 122.9 mph homer against the Brewers on May 25. That homer was the hardest-hit ball since Statcast started tracking that data in 2015.
Cruz is now hitting .208 with a .321 on-base percentage, a .404 slugging percentage, 13 homers, 31 RBIs and 26 steals in 71 games.
“He’s struggling at the plate right now,” Kelly said. “It’s difficult when you’re going through that and trying to figure it out. He’s working hard to do that. That’s one thing we’ve got to be mindful of, is not letting that offense carry over to defense and base running, and the energy and effort that we’re giving on any other aspects of the game as well.”
Cruz said his hitting slump “had nothing to do with what happened today” and isn’t impacting his focus on the basepaths or in the field. But he also said he appreciated Kelly’s instructions to him and noted how he can learn from veteran teammates Andrew McCutchen and Tommy Pham.
“They’re a really good example,” Cruz said. “They always run hard. They always go out there to do their 100%. That’s a teaching point for me. I accepted the way DK came to me and explained it and presented it to me.”