Ryan Ellis named CHL's Defenceman & Player of the Year

Nashville Predators prospect Ryan Ellis brought his sensational junior hockey career to a close today at the CHL's Annual Awards, where he took home the honors for Defenceman of the Year and Player of the Year. The Preds' 1st-round draft choice in 2009 will now move on full-time to the professional ranks, after a brief run with the Milwaukee Admirals during the AHL playoffs this spring.

As noted by @OHLHockey on Twitter, he "becomes the first player since Bryan Fogarty in 1989 with Niagara Falls to win both #CHL Defenceman and Player of the Year Awards".

Check out his stats from HockeyDB.com. They'd be great for a forward, but coming from a defenseman, they are positively jaw-dropping. It's especially impressive what he achieved this year considering all the talent that left the Spitfires last summer, such as NHL rookies Taylor Hall and Cam Fowler among others.

                                            --- Regular Season ---  ---- Playoffs ----
Season   Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2007-08  Windsor Spitfires           OHL    63   15   48   63   51   5   2   3   5   2
2008-09  Windsor Spitfires           OHL    57   22   67   89   57  20   8  23  31  20
2009-10  Windsor Spitfires           OHL    48   12   49   61   38  19   3  30  33  14
2010-11  Windsor Spitfires           OHL    58   24   76  100   61  18   6  13  19  12