Flyers center Isaac Ratcliffe deflects the puck against the New York Islanders in a preseason game on Monday, September 17, 2018 in Philadelphia. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer
Photo Credit: Yong Kim/Philadelphia Inquirer
As for Isaac Ratcliffe, he has all the intangibles a player could ever dream of when trying to compete for a spot for the orange and black. Standing at 6’6 and weighing in at 201 pounds, while possessing an arsenal of offensive moves, he finally made his NHL debut yesterday, “It was pretty exciting. Like you said, I’ve been looking forward to this day since I was three years old,” Ratcliffe said of his NHL debut. “To come in on an afternoon day, obviously is a different morning than usual. Coming to the rink early and getting settled in and acting like a pro. It was super exciting.”
Last season, he looked like a shell of his former self, only scoring two goals in 22 games played with the Phantoms and just six the year before in Lehigh Valley when he played in 53 games. However, that didn’t seem to matter as he looked like he belonged with the big boys in the NHL. He bulldozed a player for the Los Angeles Kings early in the game, and remained physical throughout. The key for Ratcliffe is being able to use his big body to his advantage, “I think he (Ratcliffe) played great,” Ristolainen said. “He’s a big boy that can skate. That’s the way to use his body and he made a lot of good plays tonight. I really enjoyed watching him.”
Those sleepless nights may no longer be necessary because Ratcliffe proved to himself that he could do it and do it well. He is stronger and now ready to make the jump to the NHL for good. However, while that renewed sense of confidence is reassuring, by winning puck battles and managing to have a great scoring chance in his debut, “All the guys embraced me too, they really made it feel like it was my day out there to start,” Ratcliffe said. “I just went out there and tried to bring energy. I know it’s been a struggle here a little bit in the past, I just want to come in and bring some energy to that fourth line.”
“I know Max has been a staple there too and he’s obviously a pretty physical guy,” said Ratcliffe. “He’s always bringing that energy too, so if he can have someone coming alongside him to do that, that’s what I wanted to do today.”
Ratcliffe told us at training camp that he was NHL ready, well he Pitt on one heck of a showing, “I thought that was a really good first showing for Ratter there,” said Flyers’ Interim Head Coach Mike Yeo. “What you’re hoping that a young kid would come in and show you, is some of the things that he can bring. Especially with a big body like that, look at his physicality, he put that on display for us tonight.”
Yeo continued, “He’s a guy that we don’t want him to be just a run-around type player, you have to play the game and I thought that he was involved in one really good grade-A scoring chance, another scoring chance, so I thought that he fought the game well. I was happy with what we saw from him in his first game.”
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