Prospect Isaac Ratcliffe just wrapped up his OHL season by scoring 50 goals. He might be the next great goal scorer for the Flyers.
The Philadelphia Flyers have been lacking two types of players for a long time. The first is a franchise goalie and the second: a goal-scorer.
The goalie issue seems to be resolved with Carter Hart in town, but the scoring issue is one that still exists, despite some efforts from the team. James van Riemsdyk was brought back in over the summer (though he should have been the answer in 2012), but fans and even beat writers think another goal-scorer should be on this summer’s shopping list.
In a few years, the hope is that prospect Isaac Ratcliffe should be able to put those concerns to rest.
Ratcliffe, a 2017 second-round pick by the Flyers, just finished his OHL regular season with the Guelph Storm by scoring 50 goals. The total was good for fifth in the league, but Ratcliffe is the second-youngest player in the top five in goals.
The London, ON native added 32 assists on the season for 82 points total. That’s not as impressive in the high-scoring OHL, but for a player that’s supposed to score goals, Ratcliffe got the job done.
He also led the Storm as captain to the fourth-place spot in the league’s Western Conference. Guelph starts their playoff season this Friday against the Kitchener Rangers. It’s possible that the team could even meet up against fellow Flyers prospect Morgan Frost and the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds later in the playoffs.
But back to Ratcliffe, when the left winger was drafted by Philadelphia, after the team had traded up to nab him, he was seen as a raw prospect, but with plenty of potential. Skaters that stand at 6-foot-6 tend to earn that pedigree.
Besides putting on muscle, most scouts also said that Ratcliffe needed to work on his speed and skating.
Muscle doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue as the prospect has reached adulthood. Ratcliffe weighed in at 196 lbs. In 2017, but now is up to 204 lbs., according to the OHL’s website. There’s still room to grow, but a healthy eight-pound increase over a year or two (depending on when Ratcliffe was weighed) is a step in the right direction.
The skating issue, though, might still be a work-in-progress. In The Hockey News’ Future Watch issue, the scouting report from Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr noted that he thought “the skating is coming” and that his “top-end speed has always been fine”.
After this season, Ratcliffe is likely to make the jump to professional hockey — he might even be able to suit up for the Phantoms the Storm doesn’t have a long playoff run. But given his skating issues, he’s likely to start next year in Lehigh Valley.
Philly could use another scorer now, but Ratcliffe is shaping up to be the next great Flyers scorer.