Flyers trade Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost to Flames – NBC Sports Philadelphia

Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost played their last game with the Flyers on Thursday night.

The team sent both forwards to Calgary in a trade with the Flames. In return, the Flyers received Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, a 2025 second-round pick and 2028 seventh-round pick.

Reports of a trade being in the works surfaced late in the second period of the Flyers’ 3-0 loss to the Islanders.

Farabee and Frost were both first-round picks of the Flyers. For a while, they were viewed as potential foundation pieces. But over this season and last, they became change-of-scenery candidates on a rebuilding team.

Despite having a career year last season, Farabee was challenged by the Flyers in the summer to take the next step. His production tapered off in the second half, which made this season an important one for his future.

The winger was recently a healthy scratch for three straight games as his scoring and overall effectiveness just hadn’t been there. Farabee, who turns 25 years old next month, was in the third year of a six-year, $30 million contract.

Frost, 25, was a pending restricted free agent in the final year of his two-year, $4.2 million contract. The playmaking center had gone through his struggles with trying to appease head coach John Tortorella. Over time, it seemed to take a toll on Frost mentally.

Moving on from Farabee and Frost could not have been an easy call for Danny Briere and company. Both players are still relatively young with some upside still there.

But the Flyers have taken a step back this season, giving the general manager more incentive to make changes and start planning for the offseason. The Flyers have a chance to be creative this summer with more cap space and assets. With the acquisition of the second-round pick, the Flyers have seven selections in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft (three first-rounders, four second-rounders).

And there are still five weeks before the March 7 trade deadline.

More: Why trade Farabee, Frost? How will Flyers react? Briere, Tortorella discuss

Kuzmenko is a Russian winger who turns 29 next week. He’s on an expiring contract with a $5.5 million cap hit, making him an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. Kuzmenko put up 39 goals and 74 points as a rookie in 2022-23 with the Canucks. With the Flames this season, he had four goals and 11 assists in 37 games.

Pelletier, 23, also comes to the Flyers on an expiring contract. He’s a pending restricted free agent who was a first-round pick of Calgary in 2019. He had 11 points (four goals, seven assists) and a plus-10 mark in 24 games this season.

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