Joel Farabee arrived in Calgary with little fanfare, and for a while, it looked like he might have come as little more than a contract add-on.
When Flames general manager Craig Conroy landed Morgan Frost and Farabee in January 2025, Farabee was basically the throw-in - a salary dump attached to the deal. That was a rough landing for a player taken 14th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, especially after years of injuries, uneven production and a difficult run with coach John Tortorella in Philadelphia.
By the start of the 2025-26 season, Farabee was staring at a career question that went well beyond scoring touch. He had once been viewed as the player who might follow Claude Giroux as the Flyers’ offensive centerpiece. Instead, he was now a cap dump on a rebuilding club, with his production heading the wrong direction.
The offensive star label was gone. So was the assumption that he’d carve out a top-line future on pure skill. What he needed now was simpler and harder at the same time: a real NHL role.
At 6 feet and 190 pounds, Farabee wasn’t the obvious answer as a heavy checker, and as a left-shot left wing, he was walking into a crowded spot on the Calgary roster. On paper, fitting him into a meaningful depth chart role looked awkward.
Instead, he worked his way through the lineup and found traction with a rotating cast that included Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund, Yegor Sharangovich and Connor Zary. His early scoring was steady enough to keep him in the top-six mix, and through the first two months he was running at roughly a half-point per game, good for fifth among Flames forwards.
The bigger story was what he was doing away from the puck. After 27 games, Farabee ranked fourth among Calgary forwards in even-strength shot attempts at 53.4 percent and first in expected goals at 58.8 percent.
That wasn’t a blip. By game 54, he had climbed to the top of the forward group alongside Blake Coleman in those categories, and he stayed there through the end of the season. When the year was done, only three Flames forwards - Coleman, Farabee and Kadri - finished above water in expected goals, while most of the roster sat at 47 percent or worse.
A Sam Honzek injury pushed Farabee onto the Flames’ tough-minute checking line with Coleman and Backlund, and that usage only deepened his value. With Coleman gone this offseason, Farabee’s place became even more secure, and he and the captain have been featured together heavily at five-on-five and on the penalty kill.
Now he’s opened this season as one of Calgary’s most reliable forwards. Through 10 games, the 26-year-old leads the Flames in points with nine, ice time at 185 minutes and shots on goal with 24. He’s on both special teams units and is regularly trusted against the opponent’s best players at even strength.
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The depth scoring mattered almost as much as the results, because it hinted at a lineup that can hurt teams in more than one way when the chances are there. Blake Coleman, Maxim Shabanov and Bobby Brink were among the players who chipped in during the two-game stretch, and for Calgary, the bigger takeaway is clear enough: a Wild team that had been waiting to wake up suddenly looked dangerous again. [Read more 🡒]
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Ryan Huska has made the same point after recent games, stressing how much the group has benefited from balanced ice time and a commitment to the defensive details. Calgary has also done a good job of taking away space from top opposing talent, which is exactly the sort of habit that gets tested when Toronto rolls in with its usual firepower and speed. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Fans Loved One Classy Gesture After A Game-Night Mishap
A small game-night mishap turned into one of those moments fans end up talking about long after the final horn. During a Calgary Flames game, a spectator had a beer spilled in the warmups, and the incident could have easily faded into the background as just another rinkside inconvenience.
Instead, the response drew plenty of attention on social media when the Wild forward involved made an effort to make things right. The gesture came off as simple and classy, the kind of unscripted arena moment that tends to resonate with Flames fans even when the player in question is wearing the other sweater. [Read more 🡒]