C Nolan Patrick (2017, 2nd, PHI) III

[lawrence]

slow start, like Lecavalier and Joe Thorton, but turned it around. he's doing it in the middle of his rookie year.

 

[Jtown]

I believe he is our most skilled offensive center on the team. The 180 that has occurred from getting healthy is truly remarkable. He is going to be a stud.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

That through the legs pass to Jake was so gross. People need to be talking about Patrick more, he did that with ease. He has the size, vision, skill, shot, skating, he’s going to dominate the NHL. I love the thought of him Konency raining terror on teams. What a beauty.

 

[Les Averman]

I think he's going to really surprise some people next year, or in the playoffs (if the Flyers figure it out before they blow it). He had an awful start to the year, mostly due to recovery from injury, but he's been a stud this past month.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Good on the Flyers for being patient with him giving him time to figure it out and adjust. They have done a really good job bringing along their young players.

 

[Dominance]

Good on the Flyers for being patient with him giving him time to figure it out and adjust. They have done a really good job bringing along their young players.

Yep, I can think of far too many teams who would have panicked about him not finding his game immediately and thrown him back to Junior, potentially destroying his confidence - which is one of his strengths, IMO, the belief to try plays like that between the legs pass - in the process or at least setting back his development. Kudos to the Flyers management.

 

[CanuckCity]

I believe he is our most skilled offensive center on the team. The 180 that has occurred from getting healthy is truly remarkable. He is going to be a stud.

hopefully he can stay healthy. i wasnt too high on him but great to see him turning it on

 

[Cult of Hynes]

Good to see him turning it around and playing the way he has recently. Gotta laugh when you look back at the bust talk lol.

 

[Winston Wolf]

From what I can find, I think Patrick might have the best face off percentage of first year post draft players since they've been keeping the stat. Bergeron, for example, was at 49.4% and Seguin is the highest I can find at 49.5% and he only took 303 face offs all season. Patrick is at 50.2% and has taken 594. For comparison, Hischier is at 42.5%, which is pretty normal for a rookie center. Best rookie this year is David Kampf at 52.3%, but he's 23 years old and has played at a professional level for 4 years. P.L. Dubois is at 43.7%.

 

[SaSaShi]

When watching him play right now, premier 1c talent just stares at you right in the eyes. He and Giroux have the softest hands on the club and also the best ice vision.

To be frank, I did not expect this kind of skillset from Patrick when he was drafted. I thought he would be the typical rugged power forward type who uses his body to bully other players. Patrick can do that, but his bread and butter are the subtle nuances of the game. Very cerebral , great passing in all layers of the ice and cotton soft hands in the offensive zone.

The flyers got really lucky in the draft...and Patrick is not even at 100 percent right now. His skating, although much much improved from the start of the year, still lacks that tight space burst that he had in his draft minus 1 year. Still lacks strength overall as well. He did have a double hernia surgery so it’s to be expected.

Hopefully morgan frost can be a star as well in the NHL because a patrick/frost combo down the middle in philly will be a treat.

 

[AndHeMissedTheNet]

When watching him play right now, premier 1c talent just stares at you right in the eyes. He and Giroux have the softest hands on the club and also the best ice vision.

To be frank, I did not expect this kind of skillset from Patrick when he was drafted. I thought he would be the typical rugged power forward type who uses his body to bully other players. Patrick can do that, but his bread and butter are the subtle nuances of the game. Very cerebral , great passing in all layers of the ice and cotton soft hands in the offensive zone.

The flyers got really lucky in the draft...and Patrick is not even at 100 percent right now. His skating, although much much improved from the start of the year, still lacks that tight space burst that he had in his draft minus 1 year. Still lacks strength overall as well. He did have a double hernia surgery so it’s to be expected.

Hopefully morgan frost can be a star as well in the NHL because a patrick/frost combo down the middle in philly will be a treat.

Why are we ignoring Coots in this situation? Coots/Patrick/Frost down the middle for the next several years... one of those guys is going to be a 3C, just think about that! That's some remarkable center depth.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

I wager Frost will be converted to a winger when he is on the big club.

 

[Jtown]

14 points last 20 games. 58 point pace.

In His previous 25 games before this stretch he had 3 points.

Really starting to gain a ton of confidence.

 

[Tripod]

Thanks to Flyguy for info!

Patrick 2017:

29 Games

41.59 CF%
-8.71 CF% rel

47.37 GF%
-9.04 GF% rel

Patrick 2018:

34 Games

52.86 CF%
+3.80 CF% rel

55.56 GF%
+8.83 GF% rel

9 points in his first 40 games.
15 points in his last 23 games....53 point pace.
11 points in his last 15 games.....60 point pace.

Now up to 50.6 in FO% too.

Tale of 2 seasons for Patrick now that he is recovered from offseason surgery.

 

[Jtown]

First 29 games of the year, he was the worst forward in the nhl. What a turnaround.

 

[canuck2010]

How could it be said that he was the worst forward in the NHL after 29 games?

 

[mja]

How could it be said that he was the worst forward in the NHL after 29 games?

In fancy stats, he means.

In truth, it's a little more complicated than that. Patrick was fine in October, got a concussion, and then had a very rough November / December. Since 1/1/18 he's been very, very good.

 

[My3Sons]

I think one of the overlooked factors in the development of a young player is their fit on their team. It took the Flyers some time to figure him out as he was also getting his game together. He is on a team where he can play a style and with players that will put him in position to succeed. He’s got a stable organization which is unusual for a second overall pick. This seems true for Hischier as well and to me seems like an important reason for his success. Can you imagine either of them on a team without an identity a direction and stability? They would likely not look as good as they do.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

How could it be said that he was the worst forward in the NHL after 29 games?

Welcome to HFBoards.

 

[AmericanDream]

2 assists his last 9 games...no wonder there has been crickets on here.

what has changed the past 10 games? he was on a role...

still #22 overall in rookie scoring.

 

[Striiker]

2 assists his last 9 games...no wonder there has been crickets on here.

what has changed the past 10 games? he was on a role...

still #22 overall in rookie scoring.

It's pretty simple, his quality of play hasn't been reflected in his scoring.

It's OK though, what we're seeing is more than enough to keep Flyers fans extremely happy with him.

The results haven't materialized yet, but everything he's doing suggests it's only a matter of time. Most likely next year will be a significant step up, production wise, since he'll finally be fully healthy and be able to have a normal offseason of training (knock on wood). This past year he had offseason surgery to correct a previous misdiagnosis, so that obviously threw off his summer training, which was reflected in his play to start the year.

Over the last couple of months he's just looking better and better, which is exactly what we expected to happen as he got further away from that injury/surgery.

Outside of his individual performance, the Flyers have an atrocious coach who is doing his best to hold back many of the young players on the roster. For example, last game Patrick played only 12:27, while Jori Lehtera played 13:00. In case anyone is unfamiliar with his play, Lehtera is an absolutely horrific player who literally does nothing at an NHL level. Disgustingly slow, unskilled, unintelligent, and completely useless all over the ice. But Hakstol has a fetish for "safe" old guys, so the rookie gets less time, just like how Andrew MacDonald gets 20+ minutes (2nd most on the team) and Travis Sanheim gets 12 (least on the team). Before this game it was Filppula (basically the same as Lehtera, quality wise) who was often playing more than Patrick.

(I know you're trying to be inflammatory, but there's a serious answer anyway. )

 

[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

2 assists his last 9 games...no wonder there has been crickets on here.

what has changed the past 10 games? he was on a role...

still #22 overall in rookie scoring.

It's almost like he's playing like a ....Ranger.

 

[Curufinwe]

I wager Frost will be converted to a winger when he is on the big club.

Zero chance of that.

 

[Curufinwe]

2 assists his last 9 games...no wonder there has been crickets on here.

what has changed the past 10 games? he was on a role...

Roll.

 

[AmericanDream]

It's pretty simple, his quality of play hasn't been reflected in his scoring.

It's OK though, what we're seeing is more than enough to keep Flyers fans extremely happy with him.

The results haven't materialized yet, but everything he's doing suggests it's only a matter of time. Most likely next year will be a significant step up, production wise, since he'll finally be fully healthy and be able to have a normal offseason of training (knock on wood). This past year he had offseason surgery to correct a previous misdiagnosis, so that obviously threw off his summer training, which was reflected in his play to start the year.

Over the last couple of months he's just looking better and better, which is exactly what we expected to happen as he got further away from that injury/surgery.

Outside of his individual performance, the Flyers have an atrocious coach who is doing his best to hold back many of the young players on the roster. For example, last game Patrick played only 12:27, while Jori Lehtera played 13:00. In case anyone is unfamiliar with his play, Lehtera is an absolutely horrific player who literally does nothing at an NHL level. Disgustingly slow, unskilled, unintelligent, and completely useless all over the ice. But Hakstol has a fetish for "safe" old guys, so the rookie gets less time, just like how Andrew MacDonald gets 20+ minutes (2nd most on the team) and Travis Sanheim gets 12 (least on the team). Before this game it was Filppula (basically the same as Lehtera, quality wise) who was often playing more than Patrick.

(I know you're trying to be inflammatory, but there's a serious answer anyway. )

I don't know, never seen so much defense over someone producing so little.

I honestly thought it funny since people were updating every game he had a point in, but silence for now the past 10 games...must be another "bad stretch" I guess.

I just wanted to make sure everyone was still okay, and something didn't happen in Philly that wiped away most of our HF posters on here

Also, people need to lighten up - its all in good fun - if you want to post an update every time he gets a point, expect a little fun back when he goes cold for 10 game stretches.