Philadelphia Flyers Prospect Perspectives: #1 Joel Farabee

Come one, come all and see the one and only Philly Joel. Coming to the Wells Fargo Center this October. Joel Farabee is becoming a hot commodity for the Philadelphia Flyers. From his jersey selling out (could never get to the store in time to get a home jersey with his new number), to scoring big goals, there is nothing Joel couldn’t do.

Joel Farabee, coming into this season, had high expectations and a lot of hype around him. When the season stopped last year due to the pandemic, Farabee finished with eight goals and 13 assists in 52 games. He was sent down for a few games last year and after recalled, he scored in his first game back. He looked good last year, but did have some rookie growing pains.

The bubble came around and Farabee looked good. He looked like he may have packed on a little muscle during the stoppage because he was playing more aggressive, physical and overall had a more rounded game. This led many to believe that he was due to have a breakout season this year and really help this veteran core take another step forward. Farabee ended up scoring three goals and recording two assists in the playoffs.

Coming into this season, there was a lot of buzz around the young talent of the team and if they were going to be able to help this team take the leap to the next level. Joel Farabee did more than what he was asked to do. He was the team’s leading goal scorer and was an absolute unit on the ice.

He ended the season with a career-high 20 goals and 18 assists in 55 games. He scored some pretty impressive goals this season but one of his best goals this season was the beautiful goal in Lake Tahoe when Couturier slingshot the puck into the zone, off the boards and Farabee pounded it home.

All season he was the Flyers go to guy along with JVR. When they became a line with Couturier as the center, they became a powerhouse of a line and in my opinion a top 10 line in the NHL with their production, chemistry and overall ability to score the puck.

The Flyers were over 50% better in most advanced stats when Farabee was on the ice and overall it showed in his play. Stats can tell you only so much about what a player can do, but I can see him becoming a power forward for this team. He forechecks hard, battles during every board battle and has been able to muscle a lot of defensemen off of pucks.

Watching every game this season, I saw Farabee work hard every shift. He was one of the few players that I would say something about during every shift. You could tell he worked hard in the offseason to get better and become stronger. It makes you curious to see what the kid is going to bring in this upcoming season.

If Farabee can do what he did this season during the next, he will no longer be considered a prospect and will for sure become a big part of this core for the future. If I had to guess his stats for next season. I think he will get between 28-30 in a full season and depending on line mates, he will most likely notch 25-30 assists as well.

He will also be playing on a contract year so I fully believe he will most likely get a bridge deal the following year regardless of how he performs. He may get something similar to what Travis Konecny got last season and he proved to be worth it as long as he can bounce back as well.

On my prospect list for the Flyers, I rank Joel Farabee number one. Note: this list is comprised of Flyers prospects who played for them this year as well. Find out who will be number two in the next prospect perspective.