Offseason Spotlight: Joel Farabee

Joel Farabee set new career highs in 2023-24 with 22 goals and 50 points. During the pre-All-Star Break portion of the season, Farabee was neck-and-neck with Travis Konecny as the Flyers' most consistent player over the first four months of the season. 

Among Farabee's 22 goals, six represented the first goal scored by either team in a given game. He led the Flyers in that department through the All-Star break. Farabee, in fact, was among the NHL league leaders up through that juncture. Eventually, Farabee was surpassed by Konency (seven first-goal markers for the season) but he still finished second on the club.

Farabee's production in the pre-All-Star portion of the season was remarkably consistent. This period of the season included separate point streaks of seven straight game (January 12 to January 23, five goals and 10 points), five consecutive games (Oct. 19 to 28, three goals and five points), and a four-gamer (Dec. 7 to 14, three goals and four points). He also had runs of five points in five games (Dec.19 to 28) followed shortly thereafter by five points in three games (Dec. 31 to Jan. 31).

During that stretch, Farabee saw a lot of multi-situation usage. He was especially effective at five-on-five.

I think one of the things that I pride myself on is being able to play many different spots and things like that, but obviously personally, I'd love to be solidified in the top six and play as much as I can," Farabee said.

For the second straight season, Farabee dressed in all 82 regular season games for the Flyers. Keep in mind that Farabee dealt with offseason neck surgery before the 2022-23 campaign. He looked much more in the first half of 2023-24 to be the player the Flyers expect -- and need him to be.

However, Farabee's production wasn’t as consistent in the final 32 games of the season (five goals, five assists, 10 points). He was moved down in the line rotation as the season progressed and saw somewhat reduced ice time (16:05 average through 50 games, 15:36 from March 1 until the end of the season).

As with most Flyers players, Farabee found goals hard to come by down the stretch. He generated a dramatic two-goal game in Boston (a 6-5 loss) on March 16.

"It's a long season and things change, guys are playing well at certain times. It's not something that I need to lock into one spot or anything like that. Whatever role I'm given that night, I really just try to do to the best of my ability," Farabee said on Exit Day.

Because Farabee debuted in the National Hockey at age 19 -- following just one collegiate season at Boston University -- it is easy to forget sometimes that he's still a reasonably young player. He turned 24 on February 25.

What was Farabee doing so well over the first four months of this past season that he got away from doing in the latter months? One of the biggest components was that Farabee consistently got himself to the low-slot/netfront area over the first 50 games. He did not do it with the same consistency over the final few months. 

On Exit Day, Farabee noted his own disappointment with how thing went in March and April in particular.

"Personally, I would have liked to help a lot more and produce more, but the past is the past. It sucks. I take a lot of responsibility for a lot of that stuff. I definitely need to be a lot better," Farabee said.

On the whole, Farabee's 2023-24 campaign represented a forward step from his post-surgery previous season. Come 2024-25, the Flyers need him to recover his pre-February form and go onward from there.