Preds sign D Ellis to 8-year, $50M extension

The Nashville Predators announced the signing of defenseman Ryan Ellis to an eight-year, $50 million contract extension on Tuesday.

Ellis, 27, will earn $6.25 million per season starting in 2019-20. He is due $3.5 million this season on the final year of the five-year, $12.5 million contract he signed in October 2014.

"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," Predators general manager David Poile said in a team release. "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 scored nine goals and a career-high 23 assists last season despite being limited to 44 games as he recovered from offseason knee surgery. He made his season debut Jan. 2, and posted a plus-26 plus-minus rating, the highest for a Predators defenseman in franchise history.

He added five assists during Nashville's playoff run, which ended with a 5-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Ellis scored a career-high 16 goals and 38 points in 2016-17. For his seven-year career, all spent with the Predators, he has 55 goals and 118 assists in 396 NHL games.

Ellis was selected in the first round of the 2009 NHL Draft (11th overall) by Nashville.

--Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)