Preview: Joel Farabee and Carter Hart return this afternoon against Washington

Danny Diemer
February 26, 2022
Flyers
0 Comments

The Washington Capitals have arrived in Philadelphia for an afternoon matchup with the Flyers and look to leave with another win. Carter Hart will start for Philadelphia after recovering from an eye infection and Joel Farabee is also making his return from injury.

Joel Farabee and the Flyers Lineup

Practice lines the same as yesterday:

Farabee-Giroux-Atkinson
Lindblom-Laughton-Konecny
JvR-Brassard-Mayhew
Ractliffe-Brown-MacEwen

Provorov-Braun
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Yandle-Seeler
Hayes-Connauton

So Frost and Willman not in the initial rotation. Would guess they’re sitting.
— Charlie O’Connor (@charlieo_conn) February 25, 2022

For starters, Joel Farabee is one of very few players on this team that is actually watchable on a nightly basis so to see him slot back in is a welcoming sight. Farabee had 11 goals in 33 games before being sidelined.

The puzzling decision to me is sitting Morgan Frost in favor of a laboring Derick Brassard. Listen, I know Frost hasn’t blown the roof of the arena, but has anybody?

The Flyers are the brink of a top-5 lottery position whilst spending to the salary cap ceiling. I’d rather see what I have out of Morgan Frost than dangle Derick Brassard in front of teams as some kind of trade deadline bait. It concerns me when an interim coach in Mike Yeo consistently tries to send messages to the youth players and won’t be behind the bench next season.

Morgan Frost will come out with Derick Brassard’s return. Mike Yeo said he thinks Frost is in a good place with it. He seems like he’s on the right track. They’ll decide whether it’s better for him to stay up and play maybe 10 minutes or go to the AHL and play a lot.
— Giana Han (@giana_jade) February 25, 2022

As a fan of the team I’m essentially clawing for crumbs at this point. I want to see the prospects play, I want to see interesting trade rumors surface and yet even the small victories is like pulling teeth in Philly. This franchise overthinks losing, and it’s maddening.

Philadelphia is currently sitting at +143 odds to win the game over on Parx Sportsbook, if you believe the losing streak is due to end.

Tank Watch

With Ottawa and New Jersey picking up some points recently the Flyers have fallen into the bottom-5 teams in the NHL.

Every team below Philadelphia at this point has played more games and are unable to get wins, with the except of recently surging Montreal. After making a coaching change the Canadiens seem to be playing more freely and have been able to go on a 4 game winning streak.

With the rate Montreal is rising the possibility of them passing Philadelphia seems more and more realistic. Dropping into a Top-4 lottery scenario wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize for enduring this season.