ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Anaheim Ducks announced Thursday
that the National Hockey League (NHL) club has acquired goaltender
Dan
Ellis
from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for goaltender Curtis
McElhinney.
"We are excited to acquire a goaltender of Dan's
caliber, someone we feel can help us immediately," said Ducks Executive Vice
President/General Manager Bob Murray. "He has experience playing in big games
down the stretch."
Ellis, 30 (6/19/80), has appeared in 142 career NHL
games with Tampa Bay, Nashville and Dallas, going 63-49-14 with a 2.71
goals-against average (GAA), .907 save percentage (SV%), and 12 shutouts. In 31
games with Tampa Bay this season, he went 13-7-6 with a 2.93 GAA and .889 save
percentage. At the time of the trade, he led the Lightning in wins and games
played. In his final 11 appearances with Tampa Bay, Ellis compiled a 5-2-2
record with a 2.44 GAA and .910 SV%.
A native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Ellis played
three seasons with the Nashville Predators from 2007-10, posting a 49-42-8
record with a 2.64 GAA and .912 SV% in 110 games. He also appeared in six
playoff games with Nashville. Ellis led the NHL with a .924 SV% and tied for
third with six shutouts during his rookie season in 2007-08. He set a Nashville
franchise record with a 233:48 shutout streak from Mar. 22-30, 2008, the
fifth-best streak in the NHL's modern era at the time (147 consecutive saves).
He also began his NHL career as just the fourth NHL goaltender in history to win
seven-or-more games to start a career (7-0-0), joining current Anaheim teammate
Ray Emery (9), Bob Froese (8) and Wayne Thomas
(7).
Ellis was drafted by Dallas in the second round
(60th overall) of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. He
was signed by Nashville as an unrestricted free agent on July 5, 2007. He was
traded to Montreal with Dustin Boyd for Sergei Kostitsyn on June 29, 2010 before
signing as a free agent with Tampa Bay on July 1, 2010.
McElhinney, 27 (5/23/83), posted a 6-9-1 record with
two shutouts, a 3.43 GAA and .890 SV% in 21 appearances for Anaheim this season.
A native of Calgary Alberta, McElhinney set career highs in wins, shutouts and
appearances in 2010-11. He was acquired from Calgary in exchange for Vesa
Toskala on Mar. 3, 2010 and appeared in 31 career games for Anaheim, going
11-10-2 with two shutouts, a 3.20 GAA and .899
SV%.
