The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the hockey club has signed forward Max Ellis to a two-year, entry-level contract beginning in the 2022-23 season. The average annual value of the contract is $838,750. Ellis will join the Toronto Marlies on a professional tryout for the remainder of the 2021-22 regular season and the Calder Cup playoffs.

Max Ellis is 22, so this should be a two-year ELC. He has three years at Notre Dame after three in the USHL.  He is undrafted, a RW and he is originally from Michigan. Ellis has an interesting stat line from his NCAA career, with 22 goals and 23 assists in 71 games. That’s a very unusual ratio in a centre, for a winger it’s extremely surprising. His high school career shows a little bit more action on the assists side of the leger.

Ellis is listed as 5’9” and 154 lbs on Elite Prospects, but it’s possible that’s out of date.

Ellis, Notre Dame Looking to Go the Distance

“It was a great faceoff win by [Jake] Pivonka,” Ellis said. “It went back to Stastney and then, his skating’s incredible. He took it all the way up the ice, and made a beautiful pass off the pad to me and I just finished it off into the net. But both of those two deserve the credit for that one.”

Happy to pass off the acclaim for that moment, Ellis certainly played his part for the Irish. He’d ridden a five-game goalless streak into the weekend before scoring twice in a victory Friday night, capped off by the overtime tally Saturday.

He’d been “just OK” over that span, according to Jackson, but Ellis showcased a return to form last weekend, moving into a tie for fifth nationally with 14 goals.

“It felt good,” Ellis said. “I think it was just a group effort to help me get back there. As a team, we have scoring from top to bottom so it was a great weekend for us to get back in for the second half.”

This article mentions that Ellis was delayed in getting his eligibility sorted out and did not play much as a freshman. His late bloomer status was partially bureaucratic in nature.