Injury Update: Joel Farabee cleared for contact, status for opener on 13th is still unknown
According to John Tortorella during his media availability today, F Joel Farabee has been fully cleared for contact after a doctor’s appointment yesterday.
Joel Farabee underwent successful disc-replacement surgery in his cervical region back in June. He’s been skating with the team for the last few months, even participating in some drills during training camp that involved a little bit of contact.
Flyers Lines if Farabee suits up on October 13th vs. New Jersey
Laughton – Hayes – Konecny
According to Charlie O’Connor on Twitter, the Flyers were rotating lines in practice today but seemed to be sticking with this trio. Doesn’t mean that’s going to be the line they stick with all the way up until the 13th but that’s the top line for now.
Farabee – Frost – Atkinson
Atkinson didn’t play a single game this preseason so I asked Jordan Hall if it was precautionary and if they’ve dived deeper into what’s wrong with Cam.
Tortorella is very familiar with Cam from their years together in CBJ, so this is honestly the least of my concerns. You can argue that Joel should get some 3rd line minutes since he didn’t have a preseason, and I’d agree if he hasn’t been skating for months and participating in almost all of the training camp on-ice stuff.
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Nobody exploded during camp and blew the doors down but Morgan Frost along with Noah Cates were the two standouts at forward. Frost leads the team in points (3) and FO% (60%) and has shown improvement in board battles and using his edges and hands to evade defenders in the corners and feed the open man.
Pair Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost up with a veteran like Atkinson, who knows what Tortorella wants, and I think you could have a surprisingly good line.
van Riemsdyk – N. Cates – Tippett
Cates has played center a little bit and the Flyers got a couple of looks at him there during the preseason and he had one of his best games there. Give a player like Cates, who always seems to be in the right spot, a veteran in James, and a guy who likes to shoot in Tippett and I think this could be a decent line.
Deslauriers – J. Cates – Allison
I have J. Cates > Laczynski right now because I think Torts and the staff have liked what they’ve seen out of Cates a little more than Laczynski. Tanner hasn’t had a bad camp at all, but I think J. Cates has surprised a lot of people including myself.
Bottom line, this 4th line is going to be funny to watch; I don’t really have any other words to describe it. You should see your fair share of hits and fight and maybe J. Cates will be able to facilitate a little bit of offense sometimes with Allison.
If Joel isn’t able to slot in, then you would have to insert MacEwen into the lineup and bump up Allison a little.
Regardless if Joel Farabee is going to be able to play on the 13th, it’s fantastic news he’s healthy and ready to get back to playing some Flyers hockey.
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Mandatory Credit: (AP/Gene J. Puskar)
