Farabee’s Time to Shine

With Veteran forward Michael Raffl to miss time, it’s now Joel Farabee’s time to shine.

Drafted 14th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, Flyer fans have been clamoring to see the young forward in the lineup since wrapping up his college career at Boston University after playing his freshman season. “Beezer” as he’s affectionately known as, played well in his first season with the big club after playing 5 games down on the farm with Lehigh Valley where he notched 3 goals and 4 points.

Farabee would hear his name called in late October to join the Flyers where he would go on to tally 2 goals and 2 assists in his first 10 games and worked his way into the lineup fairly seamlessly. Throughout the course of the season you’d be hard pressed to find any complaints about Farabee’s work ethic as he plays bigger than he is and his hockey IQ is sky high at such a young age that you don’t have to worry about him on the defensive end.

His best stretch offensively this year came during Jan 16 to Feb 1, a span of 5 games where Farabee would record 4 goals and 2 assists against the likes of  Montreal, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Colorado, all playoff teams aside from the Kings. So you might be asking yourself, why hasn’t he been in the lineup already?

It’s more a testament to the depth this current roster has more so than it is anything against Farabee. GM Chuck Fletcher went out at the deadline and brought in some big bodies as he and Head Coach Alain Vigneault decided this team played well enough to make a deep playoff run. This is significant because Farabee himself is still growing and at 6′ he’s only listed at 164 lbs on NHL.com.

Many fans were skeptical over Vigneault’s decision to start an experienced big bodied Center like Nate Thompson and sit the Flyers potential young star, claiming he was missing out on vital experience as a youngster. Unfortunately at the expense of Michael Raffl he will now get his shot.

In the 2 games Farabee played against the Washington Capitals this year he played a combined 27 shifts and failed to register a shot, let alone any points and totaled just over 20 minutes combined ice time in the matchups. It remains to be seen where he’ll play in the lineup and as of 1:28pm on Tuesday it remains to be seen what time the game will be played.

There’s no doubts Joel Farabee will be a contributing member to this Flyers roster for years to come, but I can’t help but wonder if he’ll be able to shine in this year playoffs. I guess we’ll all find out soon enough.

Follow Jim Iacovone on Twitter @JimIkeHW

Photo Credit: The Associated Press