Philadelphia Flyers: Nolan Patrick participated in scrimmage in Manitoba
Flyers forward Nolan Patrick laced up the skates and played a game of hockey for the first time in over 19 months.
Before we get took carried away, it wasn’t a real hockey game. It was a scrimmage in his hometown of Manitoba. But it was still a huge step in the right direction for Nolan Patrick. One has to assume the Flyers were aware of his participation in this event. With his migraine disorder forcing him to miss an entire season, it would be safe to say that the team would want to know about him taking part in any kind of game.
It was a scrimmage set up by Ryan White who hosted it through a project called Whitey’s World. The event held on Thursday afternoon involved some of the town’s top WHL and NHL players. Patrick was listed as playing the top-center spot on team White.
He donned his number 19 helmet and took part in the scrimmage which was live-streamed on the Whitey’s World Instagram page. They do have a Youtube page as well so it is possible fans who didn’t catch it live will have a chance to see Patrick in action.
Being back on the ice in any capacity is already a good sign for Patrick moving forward. The team expects him to participate at some point next season. And with him already able to get back on the ice, it bodes well for that. Now, it was just a scrimmage and almost certainly not full speed. But Patrick did look good on the ice. Below is a thread of just some of what he was able to do during the game.
Here’s a nice little play by Nolan Patrick #38 in today’s scrimmage. Nice little play to get it out of the defensive zone. Cool to see him playing hockey, even if it’s a scrimmage pic.twitter.com/AywzGdyeyl
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) October 1, 2020
While Patrick is at the end of his entry-level contract, he is not under the normal guidelines of a restricted free agent. Due to his limited amount of games, he is classified as a 10.2(c) player. This means that the Flyers hold his rights and are the only team able to negotiate and sign a contract with him. He is also not eligible for arbitration.
With the support from his teammates and the coaching staff, signing Patrick will come at some point. It is mostly a matter of figuring out what his worth may be at this point. The best possible thing could be signing him to a short-term deal now and potentially cashing in later.
But nonetheless, this was the biggest step Patrick has taken in quite some time.