Photo Credit: Zack Hill/Philadelphia Flyers Senior Director of Communications
With injuries and Covid-19, teams across the NHL have had to juggle their lineups on a game-to-game basis. For the Philadelphia Flyers, it’s been no different. On Saturday afternoon versus the Los Angeles Kings, forward Isaac Ratcliffe will make his NHL debut.
Ratcliffe, who is listed at 6’6″, was drafted by the Flyers back in the second round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. In 2018-19 the big bodied forward took off in the OHL as a member of the Guelph Storm. That season he registered 82 points in 65 games (50 goals, 32 assists).
The 22-year-old prospect is a big-bodied forward who is dangerous around the crease area and has the ability to make something happen offensively in tight. Getting to the net will most definitely be something he’ll want to do often with his size.
Coming into the NHL, Ratcliffe will likely have to adjust to the pace of the game. He’ll also want to continue to improve his skating. He has good hands but can still improve in that aspect of the game around the net.
While these are far from weaknesses, there’s always room for improvement. Winning more puck battles as well as protecting the puck are two aspects of his game that he’ll want to continue to work on as well. That seems to be two strengths of his and something that he can continue to work at in order to get even better in those areas of the game.
One thing that Ratcliffe was tasked with doing was adding on some weight to his big frame. On NHL.com, the forward is listed at 200 lb. That clearly needs to be updated.
“I’m weighing in at about 225 [lb],” Ratcliffe said when speaking to Philadelphia Flyers Senior Director of Communications Zack Hill following practice yesterday. “I fluctuate between like 222-227 [lb] day to day now. I know, I still see it from time to time. It still says 200 [lb], around there, but no, that was like my weight back when I was 18-years-old.”
So far this season, Ratcliffe has played in 31 games for the Flyers AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He has four goals and six assists for a total of 10 points. He’s been working hard at trying to make it to the NHL level.
“I’m pretty excited,”Ratcliffe said. “I got the call from [Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere] yesterday that I was going to be coming up here. I’ve been working hard for a long time to get this opportunity. I mean, it’s going to be a big day. I’m going to go out there and prove that I deserve to be out there.”
On Saturday, the Flyers will be looking to put an end to a franchise record 13-game losing streak. Ratcliffe hopes to do what he can to help make that happen.
I’m just going to bring a big strong game,” Ratcliffe said. “We’re coming in here and we pretty much have to outmuscle them, play in the offensive zone as much as we can and contribute some offense. On top of that, that’s obviously going to help us stay out of the defensive zone and help us play a defensive game too. We’ve had some success down in Lehigh too, just by playing that way, playing strong, sticking to the structure and hopefully I can bring that up here as well.”
If nothing changes, Ratcliffe will play on a line with Connor Bunnaman and Zac MacEwen.
