The Philadelphia Flyers have a big offseason ahead of them. Amid a rebuild, they will want to decide which players they want to be a part of their major core for the future and which ones to ship off. 24-year-old Joel Farabee is seemingly a member of both extremes, especially with him being in some trade rumors early in the offseason.
Farabee had 22 goals and 28 assists for 50 points in 82 games for the Orange and Black in 2023-24, but there seems to be more that he can give. A solid two-way player who scored 40 points in his first 50 contests, he is becoming more and more useful as a player; but do the Flyers really need him?
Philadelphia has a lot of younger depth on the wing, including Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink, as well as prospects like Matvei Michkov, Denver Barkey, and Samu Tuomaala. Because the Orange and Black have so many players with his upside or greater, Farabee could be the odd man out. Making $5 million through the 2027-28 season, he could be a great trade option for a playoff team looking to bolster their offense in the long term. What teams could be interested in his services?
Nashville Predators
By trading the full salary of Ryan McDonagh to the Tampa Bay Lightning on May 21 ($6.75 million), the Nashville Predators have the money and assets to make some splashes this offseason. Seeing as they made the playoffs in 2023-24 with 99 points, they are a team that would probably find it useful to build upon what they have.
CapFriendly has Nashville sitting on $26 million in cap space with 10 forwards, four defensemen, and one goaltender under contract. Their forward core is mostly led by veterans, seeing as the average age of their top three offensive scorers in the regular season was 32. Farabee can provide some great two-way play to this core and give them some scoring upside. Their 2024-25 top-nine forwards might look like the following if they traded for him:
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| Filip Forsberg | Ryan O’Reilly | Gustav Nyquist |
| Joel Farabee | Tommy Novak | Luke Evangelista |
| Juuso Parssinen | Cody Glass | Philip Tomasino |
Considering Farabee’s age, this fit makes some sense. Before his fall off production-wise at the end of his most recent campaign, he was comfortably a 60-point player. He has the upside to make a deal worthwhile for the Predators. With term on his deal, that should make him attractive to Nashville.
Related: Flyers 2023-24 Player Grades: Joel Farabee
With eight draft picks in the first two rounds from 2024 to 2025, the Predators can dominate the trade market this offseason. Regarding a return for Farabee, a first-round pick would likely be the centerpiece of a deal; there isn’t a good reason for Nashville to give up any of their notable prospects. A 2025 first-round selection via the Tampa Bay Lightning and any one of the Predators’ five second-round picks over the next two drafts would likely suffice.
Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild are in a pretty interesting spot. They have a very good prospect pool with lots of talent on their current roster but missed the playoffs in 2023-24 with 87 points after finishing with a 100-point pace in each of their prior three campaigns. The worst of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts is hitting them with a $14.7 million combined penalty, but they are essentially free from those deals once 2025-26 begins.
Minnesota has just enough money this offseason to improve their team to make the postseason and get some experience for their young players. With youngsters Danila Yurov, Riley Heidt, Liam Ohgren, and Jesper Wallstedt all on the cusp of being quality NHLers, it might still be a bit before the Wild reach true Stanley Cup contender status.
For the 2024-25 season, a Farabee deal would leave Minnesota’s offense looking pretty solid. Barring any other moves, their top-nine forwards could be the following:
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| Kirill Kaprizov | Joel Eriksson Ek | Matthew Boldy |
| Joel Farabee | Marco Rossi | Mats Zuccarello |
| Marcus Foligno | Marat Khusnutdinov | Ryan Hartman |
There could be an argument against the Wild acquiring a winger like Farabee because they have prospects who could overtake him, but he was arguably at his best in a third-line role with the Flyers. Minnesota can make the most of his presence for his entire contract.
The Wild’s 13th overall pick for the 2024 NHL Draft would probably be hard to snag from them if the trade was just one-for-one, given the strength of the early first round. What the Flyers can expect in return is a first-round pick from any year, a cap dump player to give Minnesota a little bit of wiggle room to make more moves, and perhaps a prospect or an extra draft pick to make up for that.
If by any means the Flyers can get Minnesota’s first-round pick for 2024, that would be tremendous for Philadelphia. It might take some convincing to make that happen, but it could make sense for both sides if there is an extra incentive for the Wild.
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are in a solid spot salary cap-wise entering the 2024 offseason, sitting on $20.9 million to spare despite having 17 of 23 NHL roster spots filled for their next season per CapFriendly. They have some big moves to make with Jeremy Swayman and Jake DeBrusk being free agents, but aside from those two, they can start spending a bit.
For the Bruins, Farabee might be a player they look at. Contenders love getting good value on contracts, especially for their top-six players. He would be a definite upgrade for them but also allow them to have some financial freedom if they want to upgrade their centers, defense, etc. Below is what their top-nine forward core could look like in 2024-25:
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| Brad Marchand | Charlie Coyle | Jake DeBrusk |
| Joel Farabee | Pavel Zacha | David Pastrnak |
| Trent Frederic | Morgan Geekie | Justin Brazeau |
In terms of a return, the Bruins don’t have all that much to give. Their prospect pool is relatively weak and they don’t have a lot of draft picks, but Farabee is the type of player you want to make some sacrifices for, given his contract situation and upside. Boston has a 2025 first-round pick that they can part ways with, which would likely serve as the meat of a trade. A 2026 second-round pick on top of that seems fair for both clubs.
For the Flyers, the good thing about Farabee is that they can weigh their options. If they don’t see much interest or aren’t getting the offers they like, they can keep him on their own roster for the 2024-25 season. He will be an interesting player to monitor over the summer.