"This is the injury that affected Nolan the whole year," Hextall said.
Hextall said Patrick's agent, Kevin Epp, called him and New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero to inform them of Patrick's decision to have surgery. The Devils selected Nico Hischier with the No. 1 pick June 23. Hextall said that when the Flyers' turn came at No. 2 there was no hesitation in selecting Patrick.
"I felt better about it," Hextall said. "Once we found out what the issue was and what had been bothering him all year, the entire season, from last season's offseason training and conditioning, the start of the year and throughout the year, it provided us with clarity."
Hextall said Patrick should be fully healthy when training camp begins.
"He had this done pretty early, he's still got lots of time here," Hextall said. "This is a full recovery in 4-6 weeks. This isn't you can start skating in 4-6 weeks, this is full recovery. He's got plenty of time to get through a summer training. … Is this a perfect world? Of course not. You never want any of your players to interrupt your summer training. He's got long enough now that we believe he can be in shape and at his best at training camp."