The Flyers were looking to redeem themselves in a big way this season. Well, things haven’t gone as planned, as the Flyers are on a seven game skid, while being second from the bottom in the Metropolitan Division with 20 points. The Flyers have a key injury to Ryan Ellis, and now Joel Farabee.
Flyers’ Head Coach Alain Vigneault said that Farabee is out with an upper body injury, and he believes he is week to week. This is unfortunate news for the Flyers, who are looking to end their seven game skid on Sunday against a juggernaut in the Tampa Bay Lightning. This will be a daunting task without the teams leading goal scorer in Farabee, as Farabee is tied for the team lead in goals with Claude Giroux and Cam Atkinson with seven goals.
Drafted by the Flyers in 2018 at 14th overall. Farabee has seen action with the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he torched his opponents. For the Phantoms, he registered three goals, to go along with one apple in five games played. Not too shabby I must say. Moreover, Farabee plays a 200 foot game, and is just so darn good at killing penalties. Killing penalties is crucial for the young Farabee, “From my perspective, you always know what you’re going to get from me in terms of work ethic and stuff like that,” Farabee said this past training camp, “Personally, I’ve been pretty happy with how I’ve prepared for this camp and how well I’ve done. It’s the coaches’ decision to put the best roster out there for the game. I just got to stay ready. If my name is called and I get the opportunity, then I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”
“He’s a smart player,” Assistant Michel Therrien said of Farabee, “We all like him. Joel’s a smart player even if he’s young. His hockey IQ is right there. He needs some experience, obviously. He’s such a young player, but as a coaching staff, we really like the way he’s thinking about the game, his positioning, way he sees the game.”
What Farabee brings is skating. Farabee can skate at top speed to push the play up the ice. Moreover, Farabee is an excellent skater, with the agility and edge work to get by defenders in one-on-one situations, and he has a great first step. Farabee is an outstanding playmaker off the wing, who possesses great vision of the ice. He is also a good defender. He remains focused and poised at killing penalties, and has a keen good hockey sense.
This young man will be tough to replace in the lineup, and for that matter if I’m Chuck Fletcher I would look for a trade to replace Farabee. At the moment the only prospect that could replace Farabee is Morgan Frost, but he has a lot to prove in his own right to stay up with the big club. Unfortunately, Frost is recalled with the absence of Nate Thompson at the moment, and there is Max Willman who has filled in nicely with the Flyers in the past. Unfortunately, Willman is not a top six player, so the trade market should be quite active for Fletcher.
This Joel Farabee injury is a tough pill to swallow for an organization that is already stretched thin in Lehigh given all of their injuries. The Phantoms are struggling to stay a float with the losses of Tyson Foerster, Zayde Wisdom, and Wade Allison to name a few. Let’s hope Farabee heals, and comes back better than ever.
