Nolan Patrick Drops To #2, Is The Newest Philadelphia Flyer
Since the moment the 2016 NHL Draft wrapped up, Nolan Patrick was the #1 prospect coming into the 2017 Draft. The kid had 102 points in 2015-16 with the Brandon WheatKings in the WHL as a 17-year-old. The WHL is a man’s league and a 17-year-old Nolan Patrick dominated the fuck out of it.
Last year was a different story for Nolan. He had to miss out on the World Juniors due to injury. He only played 33 games on the season. But he still ended up with 46 points. You gotta imagine he was less than 100% during some of those 33 games and he still put up more than 1 ppg last year.
Obviously the injury history is going to be something to keep an eye on in the future. And I’m assuming the injury history is what caused Patrick to drop from the consensus #1 overall last year to #2 tonight. But there’s still no denying the fact that Nolan Patrick is a future stud 1C that a team can build around.
He’s not on the same level as McDavid. He won’t be scoring 100 points in his 2nd season in the league. He’s not on the same level as Matthews. He’s not going to be scoring 4 goals in his 1st career game. But where he does compare with those guys is his brain. Kid’s Hockey IQ is through the roof and that’ll be his biggest asset making the jump to the NHL right away. Kid was born to play in Philadelphia.