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Nolan Patrick

Latest On Flyers’ Nolan Patrick

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When Nolan Patrick was drafted second overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2017, a lot was expected of the former WHL phenom. Patrick got off to a solid, if unspectacular start to his pro career, logging 61 points in 145 games through his first two seasons. However, Patrick missed the entire 2019-20 season due to migraines suffered as a result of multiple concussions. Patrick returned to action this season and was fortunately able to play in 52 of the Flyers’ 56 games, but his production fell off immensely to just nine points and he posted a team-worst -30 rating. Entering another off-season in which he will be a restricted free agent, there is some uncertainty about Patrick’s future.

Unsurprisingly, Patrick is looking to make a change. Before that can happen on the ice, it will come with his representation. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports that Patrick has switched agencies. His third agent in three years is now Rich Evans of Point West, who will be tasked with trying to earn Patrick a raise on his current underwhelming deal. The top pick initially signed an entry-level deal worth up to $3.575MM in bonuses, but after missing last season he was forced to settle for a one-year, $874K pact as an RFA last summer. Even though his performance this season was far below expectations, Patrick hopes that his ability to stay on the ice will lead to some sort of bump in pay.

Perhaps more of a surprise is that Seravalli also reports that Patrick and his new agent will also re-evaluate his fit in Philadelphia. Seravalli believes that Patrick’s camp may be looking for a fresh start elsewhere. His stock has fallen so far since the Flyers’ used their highest pick since James van Riemsdyk a decade earlier that Patrick may be looking to escape that negative spotlight for a team who would appreciate his arrival.

Of course, the Flyers have only ever stated that they continue to support Patrick and can still see his immense future potential. Seravalli believes that the team would like to see how Patrick fares next season with a fully healthy off-season and a fresh start at training camp. However, if contract negotiations go south or Patrick asks for a trade, the Flyers may have no choice but to move on. The NHL Expansion Draft could also play a role, as Patrick needs to be protected from the Seattle Kraken, but in Philadelphia’s deep forward corps that involves exposing another valuable player. If Patrick isn’t part of their future, the Flyers could go in another direction at the draft. There is still a lot to be determined this summer about the next steps for Patrick and his team, a storyline that could be intriguing in a unique and fast-paced off-season.

Injury Notes: Patrick, Dallas, Colorado, Marchand

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The Philadelphia Flyers had a welcome face join them for the first on-ice session of training camp today. Nolan Patrick, who hasn’t played an NHL game since April of 2019, was present and taking part in practice. In fact, he’s even cleared for contact and says he’s feeling better every day as he recovers from the migraine issues that kept him off the ice for so long.

Patrick, the second overall pick from 2017, is still just 22 and could be a big part of the Flyers lineup this season should his health hold. Without any leverage in negotiations, he accepted a one-year contract at his qualifying offer salary of $874,125. Even if he never becomes the top-line center they hoped for, Philadelphia can still certainly use a bargain in the middle-six.

  • The Dallas Stars were without two postseason standouts as camp opened, announcing that Anton Khudobin is still dealing with some immigration issues and Joe Pavelski is listed as day-to-day pending further examination results on an undisclosed injury. Remember, with such a short training camp this year every day is even more important, meaning there may be some extra rust to shake off for Dallas early on.
  • Speaking of missing important time, five Colorado Avalanche players were deemed “unfit to play” today and head coach Jared Bednar wasn’t sure when they would be back. Gabriel Landeskog, Brandon Saad, Erik Johnson, Philipp Grubauer, and Keaton Middelton (AHL contract) were all held out, though the exact reasoning was not given. The first four are obviously extremely important to the Colorado lineup, so hopefully they can get back on the ice before long.
  • While David Pastrnak wasn’t on the ice and will still miss the first part of the regular season, the Boston Bruins had Brad Marchand out there in his familiar place next to Patrice Bergeron. Marchand is coming back from sports hernia surgery in September and explained today that he had been dealing with the injury for the last two and a half years. The veteran forward also spoke about Kevan Miller’s return to the ice with the Bruins, calling him an “animal” and saying that he hasn’t missed a beat. Miller last played an NHL game in April of 2019 and has had multiple major surgeries in the interim. He signed a new one-year, bonus-laden deal with the Bruins in October.

Snapshots: Eriksson, Green, Patrick, Steen

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Loui Eriksson’s tenure with the Canucks has certainly been a rocky one through the first four seasons.  In an interview with Sportsnet 650 (audio link), GM Jim Benning acknowledged that he did try to move the winger this offseason but they weren’t able to find a taker.  With two years left on his deal that carries a $6MM cap hit, that’s not too surprising.  As things stand, the veteran will enter training camp hoping to land a spot on the fourth line although he is a candidate to be waived and sent to the minors to free up $1.075MM in cap room.

Benning also acknowledged that talks continue with head coach Travis Green about a contract extension.  He has been behind the bench for the Canucks since the 2017-18 season and is entering the final year of his contract.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • Flyers forward Nolan Patrick is skating without headaches as he tries to work his way back from concussion-like symptoms that sidelined him for the entire 2019-20 season, reports Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). While there are still some hurdles to be cleared, it certainly appears as if the second-overall pick in 2017 will have a shot at suiting up at some point for Philadelphia next season which is a great sign.  Patrick accepted his qualifying offer this offseason of just over $874K and because he didn’t play at all last year, he still is exempt from waivers for one more season.
  • Blues winger Alex Steen won’t be ready to suit up whenever the 2020-21 season gets underway, notes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. There’s no word yet on how much time he’ll miss but as things stand, he’s a strong candidate to join winger Vladimir Tarasenko on LTIR to start the year.  That will give them some short-term cap flexibility in their efforts to re-sign RFA defenseman Vince Dunn.

Nolan Patrick Re-Signs With Philadelphia Flyers

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Philadelphia Flyers forward Nolan Patrick has accepted his qualifying offer of $874,125 according to PuckPedia, meaning he will sign a one-year contract for the total. Patrick was a restricted free agent without arbitration rights and could not sign an offer sheet, essentially taking any leverage he had away.

That’s not to say Patrick really could have demanded much more, even though he did find some success as a young player. The 22-year-old missed the entire 2019-20 season with a migraine disorder, one that the Flyers supported him throughout. He’s been back skating for months and is hopeful to be ready for the start of the season, but until that actually happens it is impossible to tell how he will respond.

A one-year deal at the reduced salary was the obvious choice for the Flyers, who still don’t exactly know what they have in Patrick. Selected second overall in 2017 behind New Jersey’s Nico Hischier, the big WHL forward scored 13 goals in each of his first two NHL seasons. While that wasn’t an outstanding total for such a highly drafted prospect, it also proved he could handle himself at the NHL level and established himself as a core piece in Philadelphia.

Now, more than a year and a half removed from his last NHL game, Patrick will have to re-establish himself completely and prove he can still be that core piece that the team believed in. He’ll be a restricted free agent again next offseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Philadelphia Flyers Issue Qualifying Offers

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The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that Nolan Patrick, Mikhail Vorobyev and Philippe Myers have received qualifying offers, keeping their negotiating rights in the organization. Nathan Noel, the team’s only other pending restricted free agent, did not receive an offer and will become an unrestricted free agent on Friday.

The decisions made today shouldn’t surprise anyone, but that doesn’t mean the work is finished for GM Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers front office. Patrick in particular is a very interesting case to follow as he becomes a restricted free agent this offseason. Because he has been limited so much by injuries, Patrick is not actually eligible to sign an offer sheet and without arbitration rights is at the mercy of the Flyers. They don’t need to necessarily work out a multi-year deal with the top draft pick, though perhaps they could get some savings if they do.

If Patrick is healthy, he has already proven his worth in the NHL. The second overall pick in 2017 played in the NHL as a teenager, scoring 13 goals and 30 points in his rookie season. While that certainly didn’t blow the doors off the building, holding your own as a center in the league at that age is still impressive. Patrick returned in 2018-19 and once again posted 13 goals and 31 points in 72 games, but unfortunately, those would be the last games he played to this point. All of 2019-20 was lost to a migraine issue, and though Patrick has been skating for months it’s still hard to know if he’ll actually be ready to start next season.

If he is, perhaps the Flyers could try to lock up several of his RFA years right now at a bargain bin price. If there is still doubt in his ability to stay on the ice, a one-year deal makes a lot more sense.

East Notes: Steen, Fenton, Patrick

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Another young player will suit up overseas to begin the season as Boston Bruins minor league forward Oskar Steen has been loaned to IF Bjorkloven in the Swedish second league. Steen has one year left on his entry-level contract and has still yet to make his NHL debut, but did have a decent debut in the AHL. In 2019-20 the 22-year-old forward recorded 23 points in 60 games.

Steen will return to North America for training camp, though it’s still not exactly clear when that will be. Given he dominated the SHL the last time he played in Sweden, the sixth-round pick should find the Allsvenskan easy enough as long as he is given quality minutes.

  • Bill Zito is in charge of the Florida Panthers now and he may be bringing in a former NHL GM to help. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Paul Fenton is “on the radar” to join Florida, and Chris Johnston points out that the former Minnesota Wild executive worked with Zito in Columbus this season as a scout. The first thing anyone thinks about when Fenton’s name is brought up is that infamous (and incredible) feature by Michael Russo of The Athletic, which detailed the 14-month period when he was in charge of the Wild. It’s easy to forget that before he was hired by Minnesota, Fenton was one of the most well-respected assistant GMs in the NHL, spending close to two decades beside David Poile with the Nashville Predators. Though his time in Minnesota will certainly color many expectations, it shouldn’t surprise many that he is in the mix for another NHL job.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers season didn’t come to the end many were hoping for, but there are reasons for optimism moving forward. Namely, the health of Nolan Patrick, which continues to improve according to GM Cliff Fletcher. Patrick missed the entire season due to a migraine issue, but has been skating for the past few months and is apparently on the road to recovery. Still, Fletcher admitted that his future is still unclear until he starts practicing with contact. Patrick is a restricted free agent and will need a contract this offseason, but has just 61 points in 145 career games to this point.

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Patrick, Gostisbehere

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have decided to sideline nine players from training camp after they were potentially exposed to an individual that has tested positive for COVID-19. The players will now go through the NHL’s protocol to be deemed safe to return before taking part in training camp. The team did not release the names of the players who have been held out because of this exposure.

These kinds of restrictions will likely happen in several camps as teams prepare for the upcoming playoff tournament. Today the league announced that 43 players have now tested positive for COVID-19, including 30 that were taking part in Phase 2 activities. Players all around the league are being deemed “unfit to participate” in camp, though that does not necessarily indicate coronavirus-induced absences. In Washington for instance, Michal Kempny, Alexander Alexeyev, and Ilya Samsonov were all absent from Capitals practice, but the team did not provide any specifics as to why.

  • For the Philadelphia Flyers, one important player will be absent from the entire training camp and playoffs, but it isn’t due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nolan Patrick was not listed on the team’s training camp roster after missing the entire season with a migraine disorder, and Flyers GM Cliff Fletcher told reporters including Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the focus for their young forward is getting healthy enough for 2020-21. Patrick, the second overall pick in 2017, has played 145 regular season games to this point in his career and has 61 points. The 21-year old will also be a restricted free agent this offseason.
  • One player that is at Philadelphia training camp is Shayne Gostisbehere, despite apparently undergoing knee surgery seven weeks ago. Gostisbehere revealed the surgery to reporters today, indicating that it was an arthroscopic procedure. That may sound familiar to Flyers fans, as the 27-year old defenseman had a similar procedure in January but while that surgery was on his left knee, this was his right. Gostisbehere’s production fell off a cliff this season as he scored just 12 points in 42 games after amassing 187 through his first four seasons in the NHL. As he hopes to be ready for the tournament, the team will have some tough decisions on who to ice on defense once they find out who they’re up against. The Flyers are one of four teams that will play a round-robin to determine seeding before matching up against one of the qualification round winners.

Snapshots: Patrick, Kalynuk, Panthers, Granlund

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The Philadelphia Flyers are expected to be quite healthy whenever the league begins their 24-team tournament. The team is expected to get back James van Riemsdyk (fractured right index finger) and Philippe Myers (fractured right kneecap). However, the news remains grim for young center Nolan Patrick, who has missed the entire 2019-20 season with migraine issues.

Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sam Carchidi notes that the second-overall pick in the 2017 NHL draft hasn’t seen much improvement and seriously doubts the team would be willing to put the 21-year-old out on the ice if he could re-injure himself during the 24-team playoffs. It’s much more likely the Flyers will allow him to heal throughout the summer and hope that he is ready to go whenever training camp gets underway for the 2020-21 season, which could be anywhere between November to January.

Even if Philadelphia believed Patrick was ready to contribute, Carchidi points out that it doesn’t make much sense to break up the team’s chemistry that led them to a first-round bye in the playoffs. Throwing a player who hasn’t played since Apr. 2, 2019 isn’t necessarily a good way to hold onto that chemistry.

  • In a separate article, Carchidi writes that the Philadelphia Flyers are in negotiations with their 2017 seventh-round pick, Wyatt Kalynuk, who decided to forego his senior season at Wisconsin and can become a free agent later this summer. The 23-year-old offensive defenseman was an all-Big Ten selection after scoring seven goals and 28 points.
  • NHL.com’s Jameson Olive interviewed Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon, who states that along with regular players on the team’s roster, the Panthers expect to add several prospects to the playoff roster, including forwards Owen Tippett, Henrik Borgstrom and defenseman Brady Keeper. Tippett could be an interesting player, who was a first-round pick back in 2017 and appeared in seven games back in the 2017-18 season, but was returned to junior. He scored 19 goals in 46 games with Springfield this year in the AHL. Borgstrom struggled this year, mainly playing in the AHL after playing 50 games with Florida in 2018-19, but still has the potential to become a solid NHL forward, while Keeper finished out his rookie season in the AHL, faring well. “I’m sure we’ll have a few of our top prospects there,” Tallon said. “We’ll narrow it down to see how many [Joel Quenneville] wants. We still have to wait for the league [to give] an exact number.”
  • Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins reports that while forward Markus Granlund has already signed a contract with Ufa Salavat Yulaev in the KHL for next season, expect the forward to be part of the Edmonton Oilers’ “Black Aces” taxi squad when the 24-team playoffs begin later this summer. Granlund remains under contract with the Oilers until the season is over and should be able to provide veteran depth for the team in case of injuries. Granlund played in 34 games with the Oilers this season with three goals and four points, but did spend quite a bit of time in the AHL this year, something he hadn’t been forced to do in years.

East Notes: Williams, Nilsson, Borowiecki, Flyers Injuries

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After sitting out the first three months of the season while pondering his playing future, some have wondered if Hurricanes winger Justin Williams’ career will be over if the season is eventually called off.  In an appearance on Sportsnet 590 (video link), the 38-year-old indicated that he hasn’t been giving any thought to whether or not he’ll play beyond this season during this stoppage.  He has been a productive addition for Carolina, picking up 11 points in 20 games which is pretty good for someone who missed that much time to start the season.  Williams also expressed optimism that an extended training camp wouldn’t be needed if they get the green light to return to playing in the weeks and months to come.

More from the East:

  • If NHL regular season action resumes, many teams will be getting key injured players back which could make for quite the compelling stretch run. However, the Senators aren’t certain if they’ll be able to have defenseman Mark Borowiecki (ankle injury) or goalie Anders Nilsson (concussion) back in the fold, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.  Head coach D.J. Smith noted that while both players are doing better now, the fact that they’re unable to be put through the paces on the ice makes it tough to assess their recovery.  While Nilsson is signed and the presumptive starter for next season, Borowiecki is a pending unrestricted free agent and could benefit from getting back and showing he has fully recovered.
  • Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher spoke with reporters today, including NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman, to provide an update on their injured players. Defenseman Philippe Myers will be ready to return after being out fracturing his right patella in early March while winger James van Riemsdyk is expected to be cleared within the next week or two.  As for defenseman Samuel Morin who has been out with a torn ACL since November, he isn’t expected to return if play resumes but has started skating.  Meanwhile, center Nolan Patrick is working out at home as he continues to deal with a migraine disorder but has not been cleared for contact and there is no word on whether or not he’d be able to play if the season continues.

Nolan Patrick Could Play Before End Of Season

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If you were the GM of the Philadelphia Flyers, sitting in fifth place in the Metropolitan but within striking distance of a divisional playoff spot, you might look at your team and wonder what it would take to push them into contender status.

The goaltending could use an upgrade, but at this point you’ve pretty much committed to your young blue chip prospect Carter Hart. The defense is led by an up-and-coming Norris contender and grizzled Stanley Cup champion. The forward group is talented, especially with Travis Konecny taking another step this season, but may still be missing a piece in the middle-six. Perhaps a player versatile enough to play both center and wing, with upside to deliver a game-winning performance at any time.

Enter Nolan Patrick, the second-overall pick from 2017 and current long-term injured reserve resident. The young forward hasn’t played all season due to a migraine issue, but GM Chuck Fletcher hasn’t ruled him out for the year. In fact, Fletcher seems to be leaning toward Patrick playing before the end of the season:

I do expect him to play again this year but that’s just my guess. He’s been skating harder. Skated again today. Getting his heart rate up higher. I think he’s feeling a bit better.

I can tell you from the on- and off-ice workouts he’s doing, he is progressing but there certainly isn’t any clear path as to which way this will go. He’s skating at a higher level. I watched him today. His skill level is still there, shooting the puck great. I guess the important thing is when we get to the point where he is feeling well enough to take that next step. He’s been working hard at his conditioning.

Patrick, 21, has struggled with injuries since before he was even drafted. A sports hernia stole several months of his draft year with he Brandon Wheat Kings, likely costing him the first-overall spot and a chance to play for Canada at the World Juniors. Just before going second to the Flyers, it was discovered that he needed another abdominal surgery to repair a second hernia. They took him anyway, and though he would end up being ready for the start of the 2017-18 season, the young forward still missed important time in the summer before his NHL career started while recovering.

In his first two seasons with the Flyers, Patrick played just 73 and 72 games while dealing with more minor injuries. This year’s total will be much lower, if he does get back into game action at all. Philadelphia would obviously welcome him back, even if he did score just 61 points through his first 145 regular season games.

That disappointing total along with his health issues make Patrick a very interesting case to watch as his contract comes to an end this season. A restricted free agent in July, he certainly won’t be getting the same kind of extension that Nico Hischier signed in October. The first-overall pick was locked up by the New Jersey Devils for seven years and $50.75MM. No one else from his draft class has signed an extension yet, as even top talents like Miro Heiskanen and Elias Pettersson didn’t enter the NHL right away.

When Fletcher spoke on the trade market today, he did suggest that the team might not want to push one of their young players out of a roster spot. Patrick though would be an internal addition if he can make it back this season.

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