Former 2nd overall pick could miss the entire season again

The injury issues continue to define Nolan Patrick's young NHL career as the Vegas Golden Knights announced today that Patrick is expected to miss the entirety of the upcoming season with what the team is calling an "upper body injury". The likely culprit, based on his injury history, could be something to do with concussions or his previously diagnosed migraine issue.

Patrick, 23, was last injured in a game against Nashville at the end of March and has been on LTIR since April 12th when he was deemed "no where close" to returning. Patrick has struggled with staying healthy since his last year of junior with the Brandon Wheat Kings, in which he only played 33 games with a hernia related injury. Since entering the NHL, Patrick has yet to play a full season and has only played in 77 games the past two seasons combined.

In the 2019 off-season, he was diagnosed with a chronic migraine disorder which was deemed to be genetic and ended up missing the entire 2019/2020 season, including the restart in mid-July after COVID-19 had hit.

After being medically cleared for the shortened 2020/21 season, Patrick looked to be turning a corner health-wise as he skated in 52 of the Flyers' 56 games that season. Unfortunately, the injury issues resurfaced after he was dealt to Vegas as he only skated in 25 games.


It's an unfortunate string of bad luck for the once highly touted prospect and former 2nd overall pick, but hopefully with what seems to be another season off, he will be able to resume his career and finally put his health issues behind him in 2023.