Philadelphia Flyers
Joel Farabee undergoes surgery and could miss start of Flyers’ season
Joel Farabee, one of the Philadelphia Flyers’ best forwards, may miss the start of the 2022-23 season, general manager Chuck Fletcher announced Friday.
A winger who was also used at center last season, Farabee underwent successful disc-replacement surgery in his cervical region Friday morning. The surgery was performed by Dr. Jon Yoon, a neurosurgeon at Penn Medicine.
Farabee, who scored 17 goals (fourth on the team) in 63 games last season, is expected to make a full recovery in three to four months, Fletcher said.
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In a best-case scenario, he he would be ready early in training camp, which starts Sept. 21.
The regular season starts Oct. 11 for some teams, though the Flyers’ schedule has not yet been announced.
Based on the Flyers’ estimation, Farabee would be ready around Oct. 24 in a worse-case scenario.
Fletcher said the onset of Farabee’s symptoms only happened recently, which is why surgery wasn’t performed earlier in the offseason.
Farabee, 22, a first-round draft selection in 2018, has 45 goals in 170 NHL games. He missed some time last season because of the injury and managed just two points in his last 14 games. The injury worsened as the offseason progressed.
In 2022-23, the Philadelphia Flyers will be trying to bounce back under new coach John Tortorella. They had their second-worst record (25-46-11) in franchise history last season.
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This sort of injury and serious surgery would be an early retirement event for the common sense people of this world. Look, regardless of what the surgeon says, successful surgery should mean he can live a reasonably healthy life off the ice. He is done. Farabee just had a spinal disk replacement in his neck for crying out loud. He is done. So may be Couts and Ellis. Time for a reality check for the Flyers. What is going on with the strength and conditioning program? Is there a weight training room? Does anyone use it? Is there a program to build muscle mass on their players? Neck strengthening exercises? Building muscle mass is critical in a sport which is high contact. This is like pro football. These kids need pro football physiques if they are going to compete at the NHL level and not end up in a hospital. The Flyers seem to be packed with smallish underdeveloped kids. They look like children playing against men from other teams. This is why Ristolain is so valuable. He is massive, strong, and can take a hit and give out a hit without a trip to the hospital. Time to focus on building man-strength, pro physical fitness, muscle mass. This franchise is brutal. Another Fletcher failure.
Well said…this is awful. As a former athlete who herniated discs in my neck and back, this is grim. Wow. He needs at least 2 years off the ice to even attempt a comeback unless he’s doing the “Mexico slash Russian” stem cell treatments.
Reading the article, I noticed it says Fletcher said the onset of Farabee’s symptoms only happened recently….So I’m curious about a couple things…
1) When, where and to who did Chuck say this? He’s not on record anywhere else speaking about this issue since news of the surgery broke, and many reporters and people close to the team were still saying more details were needed as of today.
2) What else was said? What does Fletcher consider recent? Are we talking end of season? 1 month? A week ago? Is this related to previous injuries? If not, what exactly happened to Farabee to trigger this issue? Was it an off-season workout/training program assigned by the Flyers, or something else? If so, are other players currently assigned the same program?
It would be greatly appreciated if more info/detailed answers could be shared here
Fletcher said it to me last week, and he talked about it today at a press conference. You can see his comments in today’s story on Ellis and Farabee.