Joel Farabee had successful disc replacement surgery last Friday. Nobody had a clue he was injured. He played at the end of the season and seemed fine out there.

Chuck Fletcher was asked about that this week and said:

“It happened about two weeks ago. It was crazy. It was one of his first formal workouts of the summer and he was warming up with light weights on the bench press. He felt, what he called some kind of pinching sensation in his neck area. He was able to see a doctor in the Syracuse area. Got some imaging done. We got him down here last Monday to see (Penn neurosurgeon Jon Yoon) and he got him in for surgery four days later. I don’t even know what to say. It was extremely unfortunate and unlucky for him. I think we moved as quickly as we could once we knew he had issues.”

Fletcher said there was no correlation to this problem and previous injuries, noting that “there was no issue with this at any point” since he’s been General Manager.

He did go on to say that the Flyers aren’t worried about a timeline for Young Beezer’s return:

“I am not even sure that that is important to me. Just looking at some schedule drafts coming out, we have eight games in the month of October. To me, it’s about getting him right. I’m not 100% sure how quickly he can get into getting stronger and really working on, not just his upper body, but his lower as well and building some strength to help him become a little more durable. He plays hard and he’s a fearless kid. This was going to be a big summer for him, from strength and development scenario. That is certainly an important part of the rehab, just getting him healthy and stronger. For me whether it’s three months or four months at the end of the day, if he’s ready for game one, great. If he misses five, six, seven games and we can push him a little further, that might make sense too. We’ll make every decision with him based on his long-term health, welfare and development.”

Seems like the smart approach. They aren’t gonna win the Stanley Cup in 2023. They had the ridiculous Ryan Ellis thing this past season. Just get these guys back healthy and who gives a shit how many games they miss? You can’t afford a rush job leading to set backs.

On a positive note, Fletcher did say that there was consensus on how to proceed here and no conflict behind the scenes.

“I know that Joel, Joel’s family and his representation were encouraged by the results that they’ve seen. We’ve obviously consulted with more than one doctor and we got multiple opinions. Everybody thought that this was the best approach. For Dr. Yoon to see him on a Monday, recommend the surgery and he had it on the Friday. There was a high degree of cooperation. A lot of communication with everybody. We all felt that this was the best way to go, not just short-term of getting him back as a player, but for his long-term health would be as well. It’s incredible. There’s still only three players that had it. My expectation is that this will become a little bit more commonplace as we move forward.”

Farabee played 63 games this season. He scored 17 goals, added 17 assists, and played an average of 17:34 each night.