The summer of 2022 started normally enough for Joel Farabee. After some time off to rest and recover from the season, he went back to the gym to start preparing for training camp. However, it wasn't long before things went off the rails.
Farabee Planning For Full Return This Fall
With a freak neck injury behind him, the winger is happy for a full offseason of training
"I was doing incline bench on one of my first days in the gym in the summer," he said. "And I was just warming up, it was pretty light weight, like not hard at all. And I just reached back to rack the weight and I felt this really weird pinch in my neck."
That moment about a year ago changed the course for Farabee's 2022-23 season.
"I wasn't really sure what happened," he said. "But then a couple days later, I started having a lot of nerve pain and things like that. So I ended up going to get checked out, got an MRI, and they found a herniated disc in my neck. I ended up getting the surgery about two weeks later."
The surgery was a disc replacement procedure performed by Dr Jon Yoon at Penn Medicine. And while Farabee's procedure was pretty low-key, it came in the shadow of Jack Eichel having the same procedure done in November of 2021. Eichel's surgery came after a months-long battle with the Buffalo Sabres, who didn't want him to have it done, and it eventually led to his trade to the Vegas Golden Knights.
"Yeah, I think for him, obviously him being the first guy to get the surgery, you can understand why it happened the way it did with the team not wanting to do it and things like that," Farabee said. "But I talked to Jack before I got my surgery, and he gave me a lot of good info on like rehab stuff and things like that. So I felt really comfortable heading into surgery, and as soon as I woke up from the surgery, I felt light years better than I did before. So I'm really fortunate to have a great surgeon in Dr. Yoon, who ended up doing my procedure. Since then it's just been great. I haven't had any issues."
In the case of both Eichel and Tyler Johnson, who was the second NHL player to have the procedure, rehab time was much quicker than that of spinal fusion, the previously-accepted practice with this type of injury. The same speediness came to Farabee, who was originally expected to miss the first month of the season. But he was able to play on opening night and ended up appearing in all 82 games.
"When I got my surgery, I was the first surgery of the day, and they wanted me to stay the whole day and spend a night there," Farabee said. "And I think within two or three hours, I was walking and moving around, so they let me leave. So I feel like in terms of recovery, I felt like I was able to get back into things pretty quick. I was on the on the ice probably a month and a half, two months after surgery. Training camp kind of sucked not being able to participate fully. But I did what I could and got my body to a point where I was able to play.
Even though Farabee didn't miss any time, he still was not at the top of his game. He wasn't able to start skating until August, but more significantly, he wasn't able to spend several months building up muscle and getting ready for the season. Once a player is back into that season, doing so is much more difficult when also balancing rest and recovery for an 82-game season. That's one thing Farabee is planning to do this summer.
"I think my best season was the COVID year and I feel like I was six seven pounds heavier at that point," he said. "So I think just getting back to the weight I want to be at and getting stronger, I think it's really going to help my game. Even though I played 82 games this season, I think I can feel a lot more confident in games and feel a lot better physically with a good offseason of training."
So perhaps that can be chalked up as another addition to the Flyers lineup that will show up without having to do anything else. It's an optimism that Farabee has for not only himself, but for the rest of the team.
"I think with how good a lot of the young guys did this year, and getting some guys healthy, I think it's really going to help our team," he said. "I think for us, it's just building together, and with a young team, it's just time spent together. You try and build that chemistry that way. And I think if you do that you can become a really good team."
