Rumor: Nolan Patrick out for the season, could soon retire.

Unfortunately for 24 year old forward Nolan Patrick, his career in the National Hockey League has not gone the way that anyone would have envisioned it going.

On a recent podcast, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman discussed the topic of Patrick playing this upcoming season and he did not sound at all optimistic.

"I had heard a rumor in the summer that Nolan Patrick was going to retire," admitted Friedman on the most recent 32 Thoughts podcast. "I was told that's not the case, Nolan Patrick has a salary for this year of $1.2 million. There's no point in him retiring, he has a salary to collect and why not?"

Friedman was careful not to report anything he wasn't sure of, but based on both his comments and his tone it didn't sound like he expects to see Nolan Patrick playing again any time soon.

"I don't really wanna editorialize other than I wish him the best. But I think there are a lot of people who would be surprised to see him play this year and they wonder about his future too. Hopefully everything works out for him."

Patrick was a very highly touted prospect coming into the NHL after several successful seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League. This in turn would lead to him being selected in the first round (2nd overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, a sign that the Flyers expected big things from the youngster.

Unfortunately for both the Flyers and Patrick things would turn ugly fairly quickly when a major migraine disorder effectively sidelined Patrick's career. The issue would cause Patrick to miss an entire NHL season during his tenure with the Flyers, and although he would eventually make his return to the team it wasn't too long before the Flyers decided to move on.

Unwilling to give up though, Patrick would continue to work hard at being an NHL forward and would eventually sign a 2 year deal with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, one that carried an average annual value and cap hit of $1.2 million.

Unfortunately his time with the Golden Knights would be very similar to his time in Philadelphia with injuries once again being the focus of his time there. In his first season with the Golden Knights he would only appear in a total of just 25 games, thanks to a number of injuries, falling ill with Covid, and this hit from Nathan MacKinnon that once again put him on the sidelines.

If this is indeed the end of the road for the young forward, it's difficult not to feel sorry for him.