With Patrick’s body back to top shape, he has hit another unforeseen road black with an infection in his face.
Nolan Patrick can’t seem to catch a break on the injury front. The Philadelphia Flyers rookie is back in tip-top shape in regards to his lower body and abdomen issues, but he still wasn’t able to take part in the Flyer skate today. However, this has nothing to two with the aforementioned injuries, as Patrick missed out due to am infection in his face.
Per #Flyers GM Ron Hextall, Nolan Patrick will not skate today due to an infection in his face.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 20, 2017
Patrick, 18, was the sure-fire number one prospect for much of last season. But injury issues with his knee and in his abdomen forced Patrick to miss much of the WHL season, only playing in 33 games for the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Patrick burst onto the scouting radar in 2014-15, his first full season for the Wheat Kings. During that season, when he was only 16 years old, he scored 30 goals and had 26 assists in 55 games. A point-per-game pace for a 16-year-old in the WHL is massively impressive.
He followed up that season with an even more impressive one in 2015-16. In 72 games for the Wheat Kings as a 17-year-old he had 41 goals and 61 assists. At almost a 1.50 point-per-game pace, he was catching the attention of NHL scouts everywhere, and rightly so.
And despite only playing in 33 games this season, Patrick is still widely viewed as one of only two NHL-ready prospects from the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Both Patrick and Nico Hischier are fantastic talents, and both are extremely well-rounded and intelligent for their age.
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Patrick has an NHL size frame already at 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, and NHL-level skill and hockey IQ to match it. If he can get this streak of bad luck with minor injuries off his back, the Flyers will be ecstatic with picking him up at second overall.