The second-overall pick in this year’s draft is now the newest member of the Philadelphia Flyers organization, after Nolan Patrick signed his three-year entry-level contract with the club. The deal will pay him $925K per season in salary and signing bonuses, while he could earn up to $2.85MM including performance bonuses.
Patrick was long considered a lock for the first-overall draft position, but after dealing with several injuries including a sports hernia fell slightly behind Nico Hischier on the final day. Still recovering from a second corrective surgery to fix the hernia, Patrick missed the Flyers’ development camp but should be ready for the start of the season. While there is no guarantee he’ll start the year in the NHL, he remains one of the most polished players from the draft and could make an impact right away.
The 18-year old has actually played parts of four seasons for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL already, and showed what he can do with a full healthy season in 2015-16. In 93 total games that year, he scored 132 points and was one of the most dominant singular forces in the entire CHL. When he was on the ice, Brandon rarely trailed in possession as his two-way game is already quite developed. Though he was limited to just 33 games in 2016-17 and had to watch the Wheat Kings be swept out of the first round of the playoffs, he still recorded 46 points and was impressive even banged up.
The Flyers, who missed the playoffs this season with just 88 points are still counting their lucky stars after a huge win in the draft lottery brought them up to second overall. With young players like Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov—who happens to be one of Patrick’s best friends from their days in Brandon—already making an impact at the NHL level, there is a growing young core ready to take over from Claude Giroux and company as the driving force behind the team. Though it’s hard to see them competing for the Stanley Cup next season, if their young goaltending prospects develop as hoped, they could be a big player in the Metropolitan division for some time.