Ellis trades Lightning for PWHL in next chapter of career

Mike Ellis coached Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander in their formative years with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He won two Stanley Cups as director of skills development with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, he's on the women's side.

The next stop on Ellis' hockey journey takes him behind the bench as an assistant coach in the brand-new Professional Women's Hockey League.

Ellis has had an unorthodox career. After a self-proclaimed average junior hockey career, he moved to England to play professionally in 1994. He spent nearly 20 years in Europe as a player and a coach, even suiting up for Britain's national team at eight World Championship events.

A return to North America in 2013 and an introductory NHL gig with the Nashville Predators put Ellis on the path he's on today.

"I was a skating coach with Nashville, kinda part-time working in and out of Milwaukee for one year," Ellis told theScore. "I thought it was a great experience, (it) got me really interested in what the potential was in the coaching side."

A full-time opportunity came with the Maple Leafs. Steve Staios - now general manager of the Ottawa Senators - brought Ellis to the organization in 2014 when then-Marlies GM Kyle Dubas was expanding the team's development staff.

While working with his hometown Leafs, Ellis also began working as a skills consultant with the Canadian women's national team, a decision that ultimately led to his PWHL hiring years down the line.

The Burlington, Ontario, native left the Maple Leafs after five years in 2019 to become the Lightning's director of skills development. The timing couldn't have been better for Ellis: Tampa Bay won back-to-back Stanley Cups in his first two seasons with the team.

Last summer, Ellis left the Lightning despite having a year left on his contract. His resignation was due in part to a conflict, as he's a partner with Maloney & Thompson Sports Management.

"It was that, and I knew that (the PWHL) was coming, too, so it was a mixture of things where I'm like, 'You know what? It's maybe my time,'" Ellis said. "Like, I did 10 years in development, and I was a coach in Europe before that, so I decided that maybe coaching is the way to go. And then the women's game, the fact that I'm part of an agency on the boy's side, it doesn't matter."

Tampa to Toronto

PWHL Toronto was simply a perfect fit for Ellis. He'd cultivated a relationship with Gina Kingsbury and Troy Ryan throughout his time with the Canadian women's national team, and the two became PWHL Toronto's first general manager and head coach.

"Troy and Gina, when they were agreeing to come on board, they mentioned to me that there might be an opportunity for me," Ellis explained. "And I said right away, 'Count me in, I'd love to be a part of this start in Toronto.' And then a couple weeks later, the phone calls continued, and we made it happen."

Ellis was announced as an assistant coach with PWHL Toronto on Nov. 6.

With so much elite experience in both men's and women's hockey, Ellis has a unique perspective, and he described the differences in teaching women and men.

"They're two different styles of learners," Ellis said. "On the women's side, they're much more deliberate and much more focused and detailed, but they need all the detail. So, you have to go piece by piece and piece it all together. Where on the men's side, you give them the picture and then they pick their two favorite bits and go with it, and that's the way they work.

"So you're constantly trying to help (the men) with the little things that they don't think are that important but actually are; and on the women's side, they wanna know everything and sometimes it's a little bit literal, but in the long run, they're doing more details on a regular basis."

Ellis noted the two ways the athletes take in information could create different styles of hockey at the pro level.

"I think we're gonna see two different games in the end, the men's and the women's game, but it's gonna be really exciting cause they're both gonna be exciting products to watch, that's for sure."

Ellis has already drawn from the NHL in PWHL Toronto's practices.

"There's no question the NHL is the best league in the world, and the habits of the players in tight situational play is the highest level in the world," Ellis said. "So it's easy to pull those clips and break down the details inside. Like I mentioned before, because the females in the game just love the information, they're like, 'Oh, great!'

"They see it, it's visual, it's audible from me, and then they put those pieces together."

Coming from the NHL, Ellis lauded the PWHL's professionalism in the league's first few months.

"From a setup and structure (perspective), it's really good," Ellis said. "Like, especially for being in its infant stage, it's already moving forward so fast on all the little things that a player's gonna need to feel like they can do their job at their best ability. So all the pieces are there for them."

After a slow start, Ellis' PWHL Toronto team has turned into a powerhouse. The club heads into Sunday's game against Montreal on a nine-game win streak and tied for first in the standings with a game in hand.