Flyers’ Joel Farabee: ‘I Have A Lot To Prove Next Season’

If the Flyers are going to successfully rebuild, Joel Farabee should be a big part of it.

The team needs it; Farabee needs it.

Farabee, 23, is coming off an up-and-down season. Last June, he underwent artificial disk replacement surgery.

Farabee’s season started slowly. He slumped midseason, not scoring a goal from Jan. 9 to March 17, 26 games. He only had four assists in that span.

But Farabee finished the season with a flourish. His final season stats: all 82 games played, 15 goals, 24 assists, 39 points, minus-1.

“I don’t think I really put a number on it, exactly what I wanted to get to,” Farabee said about his goals coming into the season. 

“Heading into the season with the new coaching staff and the changing stuff that happened around here, I just wanted to prove to all the new guys just how I play and I can help out offensively.”

At the Flyers’ breakup day after the season, he could have used his disc replacement surgery as maybe a reason his season wasn’t what he or the team wanted.

He declined. No excuses.

Encouraging Closing Stretch

His neck surgery cut into his training time last summer. “It’s never easy when you try to get ready for a season in probably four, five weeks,” Farabee said.

“I honestly felt really good with my body and things like that. I think weight-wise, I would have probably liked to have been a little heavier coming into the season but you try to manage it that way.

“Honestly, I don’t think there was any point, once I got cleared, where I was skeptical about playing or anything like that.”

Farabee was the 14th pick overall in 2018 from Boston University. He has 60 goals and 72 assists in 252 career games.

His closing stretch was encouraging. He scored goals in five consecutive games in March and scored goals in two of the final three games.

Flyers general manager Daniel Briere recently said he believed Farabee would bounce back this season.

“For me, it’s really just having confidence,” said Farabee, who was signed to a six-year, $30 million extension in September, 2021.

“For me, whether it’s my first shift or first couple shifts, just making a couple good passes and just build on that.

“Near the end of the year, obviously playing with Frosty [Morgan Frost], Tip [Owen Tippett], TK [Travis Konecny] a little bit, too, they’re such good players and I feel that at the end of the year the chemistry was coming together, we were making a lot of plays. 

“You just try to build off that.”

Preparing For Next Season

Farabee said he will spend most of the summer in Philadelphia preparing for next season.

“Having this summer and sticking around here, I have a lot to prove next season,” Farabee said.

“Obviously, this season probably wasn’t my best. I have a lot of areas to improve on.

“I think with the offseason, just getting stronger, getting a little heavier. I feel when I play a little heavier — the Covid year where I had a really good year and you just feel really good about your year and you have good legs at all times. If I can get back to that I feel like I can help this team a lot more.

“Just being able to skate more in the summer will help.”

Farabee was one of the Flyers’ two first-round picks in 2018. The other was Jay O’Brien, the 19th overall pick. This spring, the Flyers decided not to re-sign O’Brien. They will receive a second-round pick as compensation.

Such are the uncertainties of the draft, the quickest way to rebuild a roster. Farabee looks like a productive NHL player; O’Brien gets cut.

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