Thursday evening saw the Calgary Flames acquire Morgan Frost, C, and Joel Farabee, LW, from the Philadelphia Flyers for Andrei Kuzmenko, LW/RW, Jacob Pelletier, LW/RW, a 2025 2nd-round pick, and a 2028 7th-round pick. This was a fun trade to see come together over X. Â The fantasy hockey impact could be considerable. All four of these players have redemption opportunities.
This should be a fun one to break down.
Fantasy Hockey Impact of Flames-Flyers Trade
Joel Farabee, LW to Calgary Flames
Farabee never lived up to expectations in Philadelphia. In 2021-22, he put up 38 points in 55 games (57-point pace). A pretty strong sophomore season. This was a big step forward and appeared to signal his arrival. In 2022-23, he regressed to 39 points in 81 games. 2023-24 offered a modest bounce back where he recorded his first career 50-point season.
This year has been pretty close to an unmitigated disaster. Farabee has been a healthy scratch three times in the last month and is on pace for just 31 points; the lowest point total of his career. Over his last eight games as a Flyer, he only played one 30-second shift on the power play.
Farabee will be given every opportunity to grab a spot on one of the Flames’ top two lines. Being thrown into the midst of a playoff race should also be invigorating. The Flames currently hold the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Put me in the buy Farabee camp. A fresh start is exactly what he needed. He is signed for three more years with a cap hit of five million. That is a lot of incentive for the Flames to put Farabee in a position to succeed.
For the rest of the season, I’m looking for modest production improvements from Farabee and signs that he’s settling in. In 2025-26 I expect Farabee to finally take a big step forward and push 60 points.
Fantasy hockey impact: Farabee moves from waiver fodder to a reliable bottom-of-the-fantasy line-up asset.
Morgan Frost, C, Calgary Flames
Frost has the potential to be the star of this deal. At 278 games played, he surpassed his breakout threshold at the end of last season. Yet we never really saw the increase in production we expected at that marker. The good news is that the breakout threshold is not exact, especially when you add intangibles like Frost seemingly always being in John Tortorella’s dog house.
The Flames don’t have a true number-one center on the roster. Nazim Kadri, C, is currently in that role, however, he’s much better suited in a second-line role. I’m not suggesting Frost takes this from Kadri. I am pointing out there’s unlimited opportunity in Calgary for Frost to ascend to that role and everything needs to go right for that to happen.
Frost is a restricted free agent at the end of the year. He has everything to play for. Now in his sixth NHL season, Frost has never established a 50-point pace.
Like Farabee, I’m bullish on him landing in Calgary. Given a fresh start and the potential to carve out a sizeable top-six role, I think we see Frost finally start to deliver on all the post-draft hype. He has the skill to become a 70-point forward. We’ve been waiting for him to deliver on that skill for years. I expect Frost to start taking steps toward meeting the draft day hype.
Fantasy hockey impact: It’s boom or bust. He either remains a 3rd line center and fringe waiver option or emerges as a legitimate middle-of-your-roster fantasy option.
Andrei Kuzmenko, LW/RW to Philadelphia Flyers
I like Kuzmenko, the person. I am not a big fan when it comes to fantasy hockey. That’s my personal fantasy owner opinion. I stared at his 37-goal rookie season as the red flag it turned out to be. He was productive after he was traded to Calgary (25 points in 29 games), only to fall off the fantasy map this season.
Perhaps this trade will resurrect his production once again.
My pools are versions of multicat dynasties. Kuzmenko doesn’t hit and he barely shoots. These are the two reasons I steer clear. Very few players that shoot less than two shots per game can produce offense consistently. In his first year with Vancouver, he averaged 1.8 shots per game. It’s low, but it was his first year in the NHL. I’m looking for this to increase the following year, it’s a sign he’s further adjusting to the NHL. It dipped to 1.47 before being traded to Calgary. In 29 games with Calgary, he averaged two shots per game. There was hope. Unfortunately, it dropped to 1.1 per game in 37 games this year.
Kuzmenko is a fantasy asset that I would always be looking to trade. I’d find a hot streak and actively shop him. He’s too inconsistent.
Fantasy Hockey Impact: I expect the trade to bump his production in the short term. Once the newness of Philadelphia wears off, I expect the inconsistent headaches to return.
Jakob Pelletier, LW/RW to Philadelphia Flyers
It’s taken Pelletier a bit longer than anticipated to stick in the NHL. In 139 AHL games, Pelletier has produced 120 points. There’s not much left for him to prove at that level. The defensive side of his game still has holes. Playing a complete two-way game has been the main reason Pelletier hasn’t transitioned full-time to the NHL earlier.
The holes in Pelletier’s game are the things his new coach, Tortorella demands his players do. Don’t be surprised to see Pelletier a healthy scratch here and there down the stretch. Tortorella loves his hard-nosed, north-south players. It’s the south part of Pelletier’s game that could become an issue.
He has 60+ point potential. 2025-26 will be a big year for him. He’ll need to take a sizeable step forward in establishing he belongs in a top-six role.
Fantasy hockey impact: Tortorella’s coaching style should create a buy-low window on the high-energy player. Turning 24 in March, Pelletier is losing runway to become an impact offensive player.
The impact of this trade will also affect a couple of other players.
Blake Coleman, LW/RW, Calgary Flames
He’s most likely to slide down to the third line with the acquisition of Farabee. Coleman is a Swiss army knife and is best suited in a third-line role. This should knock his offense down a notch. However, Coleman still remains a great hit-and-shot option for those scavaging for these categories.
Tyson Foerster, LW/RW, Philadelphia Flyers
Moving Farabee should open up ice time for Foerster. It hasn’t been a bad year for him, he just hasn’t taken a true step forward in the production department. Or at least that’s how it appears.
Foerster is playing two minutes less per game and getting 45 seconds less on the power play than he did a year ago. Foerster should see an uptick in ice time post-trade. Although, the addition of Kuzmenko probably doesn’t help him get any power play time, this year.
The fantasy hockey impact for Foerster is moving forward. Removing Farabee makes Foerster’s road to a potential spot on the Flyers’ top six a lot less complicated.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading!
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