This shouldn’t come as that big of a shock to most people as Patricks name was coming up a lot during the offseason and it only makes sense that the Flyers have tossed his name around as someone they would be willing to move. As you can see Nick Kypreos reported that the Flyers have been shopping Nolan Patrick and that the price to get him isn’t all that high.
When it comes to Nolan Patrick he has had a pretty rough start to his NHL Career and its not all his fault. The former number two overall pick missed all of last year due to a migraine issue and hasn’t produced all that much this season. To be brutally honest, yes at this point Patrick has been a bust for being a number two overall pick. I’m sure he is just as frustrated that he has preformed up to the expectations just as we are as fans. While I don’t blame Chuck Fletcher for shopping him around, I’m not sold that its the right move to make.
Look, I would like to consider myself a very rational Flyers fan when it comes to all this stuff and I understand how annoying it is that Patrick has underperformed. We all want him to be this absolute star and expected him to come in right away and make an impact. While it hasn’t been the case I will say this year after everything he has had to come back from, over the last month or so I have liked the way he’s been playing. No, he still isn’t putting up the points but he’s been involved in the game. He’s played physical and is at least putting the effort in on the ice and eventually it will pay off for him.
Let’s not forget the biggest thing here either…he is still only 22 years old. He has plenty of time to grow into becoming a great player. He has battled his way back and if there’s not really a market out there to acquire him, why even bother trading him at this point? If you’re going to include him in a package to bring in a important piece then yeah fine sure go for it. I just don’t think thats the case right now and I’d rather him be giving the fair chance to turn into something to help this team rather than trading him away. How many times have the Flyers traded away a young player that ends up turning into an important part of another team. It’s happened too many times before and it shouldn’t happen again.
The Flyers were gifted the number two overall pick in Nolan’s draft year and yea they could have taken someone else but they didn’t. The trade deadline is Monday and I’d be pretty shocked if Patrick was moved by then but you can never say never. It is definitely not something I want to see happen but I also don’t have a say in any of it. I still think there is a lot of potential with Nolan Patrick and I hope we get to see that potential fulfilled with him as a Philadelphia Flyer.
-Walsh
Featured Image-Broadstreetbuzz