Nolan Patrick

As Patrick became more involved in hockey, his father transformed their family garage into a home gym and he trained with his uncle during the summer.[1] He played AAA Bantam Hockey League Division 1 ice hockey with the Winnipeg Hawks during its 2012–13 season, where he recorded 75 points in 19 games.[2] He missed nearly half of the season due to a shoulder injury, but nonetheless was regarded as a highly touted prospect.[2][3]

Patrick was selected in 1st round, fourth overall, by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft. In December 2013, during the midst of the Wheat Kings' 2013–14 season, a high number of injuries to the roster caused him to be called up from the Midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers.[4] He was initially unavailable upon being called up due to a shoulder injury, and did not play during the call-up.[5][6] He eventually played three games with the Wheat Kings at the conclusion of his Winnipeg Thrashers' season.[7][8] He began his rookie season in the 2014–15 season, where he scored 30 goals and 56 points in 55 games. Between mid-February and mid-March 2015, Patrick missed 12 games with an upper-body injury, although initial reports were that it was a lower-body injury.[9][10][11] He was subsequently awarded the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as the WHL's rookie of the year despite missing a total of 17 games that season.[12][13]

During the 2015–16 season, Patrick finished fifth in league scoring and was the first 17-year old Wheat King to score over 100 points since 1976–77 when Ray Allison and Brian Propp both eclipsed the century mark.[14] He played an integral part in winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup, leading all players in post-season points and was named the WHL Playoff MVP.[15] After the season, it was revealed that Patrick had suffered a sports hernia injury on April 27, 2016 during Game 4 of the WHL's Eastern Conference Final series against the Red Deer Rebels and had played through the WHL Finals and 2016 Memorial Cup with the injury.[16] Following the 2015–16 campaign, he received sports hernia surgery.[16]

For the 2016–17 season, Patrick was named captain of the Wheat Kings. Beginning the season, Patrick was widely considered the top prospect of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Dan Marr, NHL director of Central Scouting said "Patrick is as complete an NHL package as you are going to find. From his pedigree, his skills, and assets, to his performance impact to date, he has everything any NHL team is looking for in a top prospect."[17] After playing six games to begin the season, however, the Wheat Kings announced on October 14, 2016 that Patrick had once again been sidelined with an upper-body injury.[18] Despite initially being diagnosed as day-to-day, the injury continued through November, when it was revealed to be a complication of the previous season's sports hernia injury.[19] On December 5, 2016, Hockey Canada announced that Patrick had not been medically cleared to participate in Team Canada's 2017 World Junior training camp and thus would not play in the 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.[20]

Patrick selected by the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

Despite missing most of the regular season and all four playoff games due to injuries, Patrick was ranked the No. 1 North American skater by NHL Central Scouting. Dan Marr stated "He has more than proven over the last three years that he is the real deal and he will be an impact NHL player". On June 23, 2017, Nolan Patrick was selected 2nd overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2017 NHL Draft.[21] On July 17, 2017, Patrick was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers.[22] Before the Flyers development camp started, it was announced Patrick would not participate because he was recovering from abdominal surgery performed on June 13, 2017.[23]

Patrick made his NHL debut on October 4, 2017 against the San Jose Sharks.[24] He registered his first NHL point in his third game with an assist on sophomore Ivan Provorov's goal against the Anaheim Ducks in a 3–2 OT victory. He scored his first NHL goal against the Nashville Predators in his fourth game on October 10, 2017. Patrick scored his first goal with 9:25 remaining in the second period.[25] Patrick was hit by Anaheim Ducks player Chris Wagner on October 24, 2017 and missed 9 games to recover from the injury.[26][27][28] Patrick ended the regular season with 30 points in 73 games.

In his rookie season, the Flyers made the Stanley Cup playoffs and faced the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. In Game 2 of the series, Patrick notched his first NHL Playoff goal.[29] Patrick ended the post-season with 2 points in 6 games. On July 21, 2018, Patrick was selected as the number 1 breakout player for 2018–19 by NHL Network.[30]

Patrick did not participate in the Flyers' 2019–20 pre-season due to migraines.[31] The Flyers listed him as day-to-day and he was not expected to be ready to start the 2019–20 season with the team.[32] Although he hoped to play before the season concluded,[33] he began skating with the team during practice in February 2020[34] before the league shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the league began their "Return to Play Plan", he was not invited to the Flyers camp.[35]

On October 16, 2020, Patrick accepted the Flyers' one-year, $874,125 qualifying offer.[36]