On June 23, 2017, Nolan Patrick was drafted in the first round, second over all NHL draft. He was drafted to play for the Philadelphia Flyers, and playing is what he will do.
Usually, new drafts spend a year or two in training before they are brought up to the majors. However, so far Nolan Patrick has played in every Pre-Season game for the team. During the rookie game before Pre-Season, he showed how he out-shined every other rookie.
Unusual to most newly drafted players, it has been recently announced that Nolan Patrick will be playing in the home opener. The Flyers official twitter page had broken the news that everyone was wondering about on Monday, October 2, 2017.
The home opener at the Wells Fargo Center will be played against the Washington Capitals on October 14, 2017, at 7:00 PM. The NHL team from Washington has some very well known players on it including, TJ Oshie, Braden Holtby, and Alex Ovechkin.
It will be interesting to see how Nolan Patrick holds up playing against these other well-known professional hockey players. Alex Ovechkin has been on the NHL All-Star team multiple times and has won numerous awards in the NHL. This will definitely be a true telling of how well of a player Nolan Patrick is by playing this Stanley Cup-winning team.
Although Nolan Patrick cannot even legally drink in the US, it will be intriguing to see if he makes some illegal moves or plays by the rules. During one of his preseason games, Nolan Patrick had received his first NHL penalty. This was due to fighting during the game against the Boston Bruins and had led to five minutes in the penalty box.
This game will be a great way to see how Nolan Patrick will be performing in the NHL, as well as, how the Flyers season will go. Maybe now that Nolan Patrick is on the Philadelphia Flyers, they will win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1975. The Flyers are definitely going through a change in the organization after the death of founder and owner, Ed Snider.
Who knows, depending on how Nolan Patrick turns out, he might be the future of the team. Perhaps, he might even prove to coach, Dave Hakstol, that his idea of where he sees the team going is correct. The Flyers coaching staff has recently been making some changes so hopefully they are all worth the trades.
Good luck in the home opener, Nolan Patrick. All of Philadelphia is rooting for you!
