Patrick/Myers Trade 2021

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On Saturday afternoon, rumors began to spiral off the ground of the Philadelphia Flyers’ Nolan Patrick and Philippe Myers being traded to the Nashville Predators. As many fans and sources found out the news, many people became confused about what was to come. Shortly after the first few rumors began, the Philadelphia Flyers announced the 2 players had been traded to the Predators for defenseman, Ryan Ellis. The Predators then almost immediately came out to say that they had traded Patrick to the Vegas Golden Knights for Cody Glass. With this 3-team trade being a big one, it’s right to share any predictions as to what this will do for Nolan Patrick and the Flyers. 

First off, this trade will indefinitely benefit Nolan Patrick. He’s obviously struggled in Philadelphia, yet so did most of the team this year. With him being a young player and still having lots to learn about playing in the NHL, it’s necessary for him to have a certain amount physical support on the ice. In Philadelphia, we’ve struggled as a team for many of the seasons that he’s been on the roster for. We didn’t have the chance to bring up struggling players to play along our stars for a game or two. Nolan Patrick started off somewhat strong in Philadelphia, but was later diagnosed with a severe migraine disorder and was forced to miss all of the 2019-2020 season. This sent him into a total rebuild upon his return, and everything I’ve mentioned before became an issue. He needed to start over and play up with bright influences, and the rest of the team struggled while attempting a playoff run. The team had no game time to waste to risk allowing failing players to playing on the first or second line. This only brought Patrick’s skills down. However, the Vegas Golden Knights are a strong, new team. If their future seasons are anything like this one, they have plenty of time too spare to give young players a chance to play up. This will benefit Patrick by giving him the chance to learn from other strong players and rebuild his game. Although I would’ve liked this rebuild to happen with the Flyers, it will benefit him greatly to play in Vegas. And who knows, maybe he’ll reconstruct his skills and make a return in a few years like JVR. Either way, it is most likely a smart career move for him. 

The Philadelphia Flyers will obviously benefit from this trade as well. One of the main things we struggled with last season was the defense. We lost Matt Niskanen, and it truly showed. He was our #1 defenseman, and his leaving forced the rest of our defense to step up a spot. Ivan Provorov was our projected #1 for last season and that obviously didn’t work out. He’s only 24, so this expectation was unfair anyway. In this trade, we received Ryan Ellis. Hopefully, he will be the missing piece of the puzzle. His skill will tremendously help Provorov on the first line. Ellis will hopefully fill the spot of the Flyers’ #1 defenseman, allowing Provorov to return his #2 spot. The rest of the defense will no longer have to play up a spot, and will hopefully supply somewhat-better results. Although it will probably take some time for these new lines to settle in, this year we will get our preseason back and not waste as much time with this in the regular season as we would’ve last year. Yes, we lost 2 players for 1 defenseman, but I believe this will greatly beneficial for the Flyers. This will give our defense the gas to venture onto the road of returning to their former selves and beyond.  

This trade was definitely a big one, holding of 4 players and 3 teams. Yet I do believe that this will benefit almost everyone involved, or at least who the Philadelphia Flyer’s fans care about. Nolan Patrick will be given the opportunity to rebuild and improve. The Philadelphia Flyers’ defense will reconstruct and help support the rest of the team and Carter Hart in his rebound season. I’m certain this trade is what’s best for everyone involved. Trades like these are what we need to help the future of the Philadelphia Flyers and part of the rest of the NHL.