Devils' Shero not worried about Patrick's health; will he leave Hischier for Flyers?

Nolan Patrick's injury-plagued season — he recovered from two sports hernias — does not concern New Jersey general manager Ray Shero, whose team has the No. 1 overall pick in Friday's NHL draft in Chicago.

"With all the information we have, there's no concern at this point in terms of any of his past injuries," Shero said in a phone interview from Chicago on Wednesday. "There's nothing that is career-threatening or anything like that. I think if you draft Nolan Patrick, you're drafting his body of work, [including] the 30-some games he played this year. It's not like he came out of the blue. Everyone has known Nolan Patrick for a long time. The year before, he was huge part of a Brandon team that had a great run."

Shero noted that New Jersey's top pick in 2014, center John Quenneville, played on Brandon through 2015-16, "so obviously we saw that team a lot, and Nolan was a huge part of that as an underage player."

That Brandon team also included Ivan Provorov, the Flyers' top defenseman last season.

Patrick and Nico Hischier, a pair of centers, are the consensus top players in the draft. The Flyers have the No. 2 pick.

"I went to Switzerland and saw Hischier, and I went to Winnipeg and spent a lot of time with Nolan Patrick," Shero said.

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Shero, who hinted there are also some defensemen he likes, said that he knows which player he will select at No. 1 but that he will listen to trade offers until the last minute. He said he will pick the player who is "the best fit for the organization."

Hischier and Patrick are "awesome kids, and it's been really enjoyable for me to spend time with them," Shero said. "For Nolan, in particular, this will be a great step to just get it over with and move forward. Whoever drafts him, whether it's us or somebody else [it will be a relief]. … He just missed the draft last year by four days, and he would have probably been a top-5 pick last year."

Shero said Patrick "has had a long year as far as dealing with stuff. He's been the projected No. 1 pick for a long time, and then all of a sudden [because of injuries], people pick apart his game. But when this Friday night comes, it will be a first step, but a big step, for Nolan Patrick. Most importantly, all this stuff is behind him, and he can move forward."

This year's top pick won't be a Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews, Shero said.

"The expectations are that he will be someone who will impact your organization," Shero said. "From a Devils standpoint, we certainly need talent and depth at all positions, and that's what we're looking for. It's a real building block for us.

"I don't think us or Philadelphia will be anointing these guys as the Next One, but it's going to be someone who will really impact the organization in a positive way."

The Flyers, thanks to some deals made by GM Ron Hextall, have 11 picks in the seven-round draft; New Jersey has 10.

"Ron's been real clear since he's taken over on the direction he wanted to go," Shero said. "Now some of the patience will pay off as he has some of these young defensemen coming through. He's building with younger players, and that's what we're trying to do as well. You only do it one way, and that's by having the assets and draft picks and taking advantage of them."

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Shero said Patrick and Hischier have "great hockey sense, and that's something you certainly can't teach. They have the sense and the instincts that make other players better, and there's competitive fire in both players."

He thinks both can play in the NHL in 2017-18. "Some teams are different because of their development philosophy," Shero said, "but physically and skill-wise, both can play next year in our opinion."

Breakaways

The Flyers will start the season Oct. 4 in San Jose, and their home opener will be Oct. 14 against Washington. The Flyers will be opponents in home openers in San Jose, Los Angeles (Oct. 5) and Nashville (Oct. 10). The full schedule will be announced Thursday. … In the draft lottery, the Flyers jumped from No. 13 to No. 2, while New Jersey climbed from No. 5 to No. 1 in the first round. The Devils had an 8.5 percent chance to land the top pick. In subsequent rounds, the teams will fall back to their "earned" spots.