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Recently, Grant McCagg remarked that numerous issues regarding Nolan Patrick, including his injury history, level of effort, on-ice performances, and character issues were causing him to fall out of favor with various NHL scouts. Today, he released an article expanding on those remarks with quotations.My god if we get one of Patrick/Hischier....holy ****. I am giddy.
https://recrutes.ca/meet-your-makar-king-patrick/
During Sportsnet's 2017 Trade Deadline coverage, they had a segment about the 2017 NHL Draft. Sam Cosentino mentioned that some NHL executives he had spoken to were concerned about Patrick's "indifferent" play.Meet your Makar, King Patrick
April 6, 2017 By Grant McCagg
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If one had said six months ago that Patrick might not be a top-two pick, or even the first-overall pick for that matter, such a declaration would have been met with plenty of criticism and disbelief. Following an underwhelming injury-plagued season, however, in which he was already surpassed by Halifax Mooseheads’ center Nico Hischier in a lot of scouts’ minds…if one prospect is already thought to be as good or better, why not another?
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I see a lot of parallels between Monahan and Patrick. Monahan is a 6-2 center who was also a late birthday that had great stats the year before he was drafted with 78 points. No, he did not crack 100 points like Patrick did last season, but Monahan was not on a high-powered offensive juggernaut like Brandon either, with highly productive teammates like Ivan Provorov, Jayce Hawryluk and John Quenneville that scored a CHL-best 317 goals.
Much like Monahan, some concerns about Patrick’s effort away from the puck, skating speed and overall competitiveness all crept in as he was under more intense scrutiny in his draft year.
“We faced Patrick quite a few times this year,” said one eastern conference WHL head coach. “Nothing against the kid whatsoever, but what I saw this year and what our coaching staff saw last year are two different players. No question he’s a player, smart and everything else, but I’m not seeing what everybody talked about last year.
“I saw him play against Moose Jaw one night and he was downright lazy. When he has the puck he’s fine..but when he doesn’t…I’ve expected more. What I heard from last year was that this guy was going to be a handful this year…and he hasn’t been a handful with that hockey club.”
Monahan was able to overcome the competitiveness and skating concerns and has developed into a solid top-two NHL center, but there are no guarantees that Patrick can follow the same path, especially when issues about his character are also becoming more prevalent in the scouting community from several different sources.
“He’s not the greatest kid I don’t think,” said a scout of one team picking in the top ten. “I don’t know if he’s a great teammate either. That’s what I’ve heard. Maybe just a little bit about himself.”
Up until the world junior tournament there was little talk about Patrick dropping from his perch as the anointed number-one pick, but as Hischier kept producing in big moments, including in a head-to-head matchup against Patrick at the CHL Top Prospects Game, and as Patrick’s return from a hernia injury failed to wow scouts in the same fashion he impressed them last season, it soon became apparent that Patrick was no longer in a league of his own when it came to the draft.
“Our guys aren’t keen on him,” said the scout of another team slated to pick in the top ten. “I would be really surprised if we took Nolan Patrick. Unless it’s a no brainer. If we’re at 4 or 5…then you’ve gotta do it. “If (club management) hear a peep on a player we’re not taking him…and they’ve heard some things that concern them.”
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You can view the video here: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/sportsnets-2017-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-march/
The Draft Analyst, The Hockey News, Corey Pronman, and Grant McCagg have all moved Patrick down their lists so far. We shall see if others drop him from the #1 position as June approaches.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/5sxen8/request_corey_pronmans_top_50_prospect_for_the/
https://recrutes.ca/top-10-nhl-prospect-rankings/
http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/why-nolan-patrick-is-no-longer-the-no-1-draft-prospect
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