NHL Names Ryan Ellis Second Star of the Week

Ryan Ellis recently missed 20 games due to injury, but you'd never know it.
Nashville's associate captain has picked back up right where he left off, and on Monday, he was named the NHL's Second Star of the Week.
After he was sidelined on New Year's Day, Ellis returned to the Predators lineup on Feb. 21, and in the five games he's played since, the defenseman has points in all but that first contest.

More recently, Ellis had multiple points in all three of Nashville's outings last week to lead all NHL defensemen and tie for second in the entire NHL with seven points (1g-6a), factoring on seven of nine Nashville goals. Those performances helped the Preds back into a playoff spot for the first time since November.

This is the third time this season that Ellis has posted multiple points in at least three-straight games, with the first such occurrence - back in October - matching a franchise record at four games. Despite only appearing in 44 games this season due to injury, Ellis is six points shy of a new career high in the category.
"You don't see it that often, but I think it's really a tribute to him and our training staff, our strength and conditioning staff, because he wasn't with the team a lot," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said earlier in the week on Ellis's seamless return. "It is hard lots of times in the NHL to be able to practice, so he had limited practice time, but his conditioning level was obviously high and he really took care of himself. You can tell he was paying attention even though he wasn't playing. He was certainly engaged in what was going on, so I think that's what makes him, not only just a really good player, but an excellent pro."