Hey Bobby, would you sign my sweater?
Flamborough’s own Ryan Ellis has big fan in game’s greatest defenceman
Legendary NHL defenceman Bobby Orr talks with Julian Marozzo, 8, after signing his Toronto Maple Leafs sweater. Orr joined Ryan Ellis of the Nashville Predators for his third annual charity golf tournament at Flamborough Hills Golf and Country Club on Monday. The tournament raises money through Ellis’ Elly4Kids foundation to build or rebuild playgrounds in disadvantaged neighbourhoods throughout Hamilton.
The Spectator’s Scott Radley reports on the good work of the tournament and the outstanding performance and career of Ryan Ellis
When the first round of the 2015 National Hockey League draft had wrapped up, not a single defenceman under six feet tall had been taken.
Same story in 2016. When it came to playing the blue line in the big league, it was clear as recently as two years ago that small men need not apply.
Little guys, the thinking went, just couldn’t play such a physical position.
“People used to say that about Ryan,” Bobby Orr says.
The greatest rearguard of all time is speaking of Ryan Ellis. All five-foot-nine — maybe — of him.
A 27-year-old who had to answer endless questions about his size before making it into the NHL with the Nashville Predators back in 2011.
Orr was at Flamborough Hills Golf and Country Club on Monday for Ellis’ third-annual charity golf tournament, which raises money through his Elly4Kids foundation to build or rebuild playgrounds in disadvantaged neighbourhoods throughout Hamilton.
While he was there, the Boston legend showed he wasn’t just the greatest defenceman ever but is the greatest ambassador for hockey today.
Every person he met was greeted with a warm handshake, an enthusiastic smile, a genuine conversation and more than a few laughs.
Every item that needed an autograph got one. Or two. Or three.
Every breakfast-interrupting photo that had to be taken was done happily.
Orr’s greatest praise, however, came for Ellis. Partly for his work with the community but largely for what he’s done to change the perception of smaller players on the ice. Specifically smaller blueliners.
Over the past seven seasons, the lushly-bearded Flamborough native has proven every critic wrong. Just as Orr predicted he would, many years ago.
Now an alternate captain with a Preds’ team that made it to the finals a year ago, he was a Conn Smythe Trophy favourite for much of that playoff run. He’s a terrific penalty killer, a fearless shot blocker, an impact player on the power play and a strong defender with an underrated shot.
Perhaps the biggest compliment he could receive came not from Orr at all but this past weekend during the NHL draft when the world flipped on its axis and seven of the 14 rearguards taken in the first round were under six feet.
Orr says that’s no fluke and Ellis has a lot to do with it.
Now it’s true that No. 4 represents the other No. 4 so he’s going to say nice things about him. But when the greatest defenceman of all time speaks, you listen.
When he says the Waterdown District High School alum has proven that smarts and effort and competitiveness and toughness and talent matter more than numbers on a tape measure, you believe him.
In case you still think it’s just bluster, it’s worth noting his client has just one year left on his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent and ...
“You’d be shocked at the interest in Ryan Ellis in this league,” Orr says.
For his part, Ellis isn’t about to take credit for the entire culture shift among the hockey establishment but he’s happy to be contributing in some way. When a guy who’s been doubted as much as he has can prove he can be a difference-maker, of course some doors are going to be opened for guys coming up behind him.
He’s thrilled smaller guys — especially smaller defencemen — are finally getting a fair shot.
With hockey becoming an even-faster sport with more emphasis on skating, passing and smarts, he says there’s no reason to default to height anymore. Hockey IQ comes in all shapes and sizes.
“Everyone kind of does their part and leaves their mark in a different way,” he says. “If that’s the mark I leave, so be it.”
Speaking of leaving a mark, we get back to the eight-time Norris Trophy winner, three-time Hart Trophy winner and twotime Stanley Cup champion (among other entries on his resumé that could fill this whole page).
He begins answering another question about the size of defencemen with, “Back in my day ...” before breaking into a big laugh and cutting himself off. Now 70, he still looks far too young to be pulling the old-man routine. Still, he points out that when he played there were a lot of smaller guys on the ice. Bigger players had their roles but they often weren’t great skaters.
So would he like to have played in this current era when everybody can fly, everyone has world-class skills and the game is played at hypersonic speed?
The full Bobby Orr smile takes over his face.
“I think it would’ve been fun,” he says. “I think it would’ve been fun.”