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One scout called him a franchise centre. Another described him as a coach’s dream, the sort of player you can put on the ice in any type of situation, whether you’re up or down a goal.

Sure, Nolan Patrick might not have the same star power that Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews commanded as draft-eligible prospects — “There isn’t one part of his game that makes you go, ‘Wow!’” said North American Central Scouting’s Mark Seidel — but despite missing most of the season, the 18-year-old heads into the World Junior Championship as the consensus No. 1 pick for the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

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“He’s one of those team-first players,” said Dan Marr, director of NHL Central Scouting. “There are no surprises. He gives you the same game, the same performance every time you see him. I would have anticipated he would have gone out and been a valuable member of the Canadian team.”

We’ll have to take his word for it, because Patrick will not actually play in the world juniors. A nagging upper-body injury, which has limited him to only six games this season, will keep him out of the tournament. The same goes for defenceman Timothy Liljegren, considered to be Patrick’s biggest threat for the No. 1 spot, who was not chosen to represent Sweden after missing almost two months with mononucleosis.