in the torment nexus

Nolan Patrick on his battle with migraines

Q: were you blindsided by [the richards and carter trades] or did you feel like for whatever reason there might have been an idea in the locker room that you know what, the team might really look at moving on from these guys? DB: i was surprised we moved on from both of them. i had the feeling that change was coming and that a big trade was coming and i had the feeling that one of the two was going to go, but i didn't expect to see them both leave in that offseason. but when i look back, i think it was a trade that worked out better for both the flyers and mike richards or jeff carter because these guys were kind of at a crossroads in their career and i think they were maybe a little too comfortable here in philly. it was their team. i don't know if they had really the drive to take it to the next step and when that trade happened, i think both of them kind of changed their vision and all of a sudden realized, 'okay, we better put it back in high gear, we have a lot to prove here.' ... and i know the kings ended up winning the stanley cup with both of these guys, but i don't know if they become as good of players if they stay with the flyers.