From a clip of Episode 6 of Always Level Up With Derek Settlemyre out Friday, May 21, 2016:
After a season full of chaos and a Flyers team that collectively underperformed all around there seems to be a target on one of the youngest players on the team. After missing an entire year Nolan Patrick has been consistently ridiculed and maligned as a problem within the organization. For the most part this seems to be a baseless narrative that only weighs heavier on a young man who has simply struggled with injuries in the early part of his career. Without having any sort of offseason and consistently told to stay off the ice, Patrick found himself a step behind the game all season long.
Without his red-hot start early in the season, Nolan’s statistical output would be at an all-time low for him and uncharacteristic of player who was selected 2nd overall int he 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Fellow teammate Oskar Lindblom also struggled this past season after missing almost a year with Cancer, but was given much more leniency in the public eye. Even though the coaching staff clearly was sheltering the two of them on the fourth line, it only seemed to be Patrick that felt the weight of the crowd. As the season moved on, his confidence seemed to fall lower and a fresh offseason seemed even more necessary.
This short clip of Derek Settlemyre’s conversation with myself from episode 6 of Always Level Up goes behind the scene to give a taste of how the players actually view Patrick. Derek was an equipment manager for the Flyers organization for 26 years and has an endless stream of personal connections within the organization and remains close with them today. Even today Derek is still well engrossed in the Flyers community and regularly hangs out with current and former Philadelphia Flyer greats as can be seen on his show YouTube Nasty Knuckles. As you will hear from the clip above, there seems to be a large disconnect about Nolan, who is loved by the people who actually know him and maligned by those who watch from afar. Derek clearly defends Nolan’s character and level of talent and even references teammate Shayne Gostisbehere as someone who recently raved about his high level of skill. It seems like the media targets Nolan more than most, which is confusing because typically nice Canadian boys like Nolan are quiet and polite. To myself and Flyers Nitty Gritty, it seems to be confusing how that seems to push into an unjustly label of being considered a problem.
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