Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost traded to Calgary for Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, two draft picks

The picks that eventually turned into Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost were acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers in the same trade way back on June 23, 2017 when then-GM Ron Hextall sent Brayden Schenn to St. Louis.

Now, they both leave Philadelphia in the same trade as well.

A team source confirmed on Thursday night that the Flyers shipped both Farabee and Frost to the Calgary Flames in exchange for 28-year old winger Andrei Kuzmenko, 23-year old forward Jakob Pelletier, and two draft picks — a 2025 second rounder and a 2028 seventh rounder.

Rumors began to break regarding the potential trade in the second period of the Flyers’ game against the New York Islanders, and Frost left the game around the same time, completing his final shift as a Flyer with 8:22 left in the middle stanza. Farabee, on the other hand, played the rest of the game, actually taking the final shift of the contest.

They’ll both play their next game in Calgary.

Frost’s career in Philadelphia was a story of hot streaks and cold streaks, and that continued in 2024-25. For the third straight season, Frost started slow, only to pick up his offensive game in mid-December, scoring 12 points in 14 games from December 19 through January 16. But he was never able to play with the kind of consistency that fully sold head coach John Tortorella, and he was a regular candidate for healthy scratches.

Farabee, on the other hand, received his first healthy scratching from Tortorella just this month, sitting for three games from January 11 through January 14. Upon his return, Farabee’s offense picked up a bit (five points in eight games) but he was still unable to recapture the form that made him one of the Flyers’ most effective forwards from October through January of the 2023-24 season, when he appeared to be establishing himself as a key part of the organization’s future.

Since then, however, Farabee’s production cratered. He finished with just 10 points over his final 32 games last season, and those scoring struggles carried over into 2024-25 — just 19 points in 50 games. While the potential for a mid-20s emergence remained, Farabee wasn’t coming close to living up to his $5 million cap hit over the past 12 months.

In return for the Farabee/Frost duo, the Flyers receive two wingers in Pelletier and Kuzmenko. The 23-year old Pelletier was taken in the first round back in 2019, but had bounced back and forth between the AHL and NHL since turning pro for Calgary in 2022-23. After failing to make the Flames out of camp this season, he was actually waived and cleared back in early October, and spent 20 games with the Calgary Wranglers down in the AHL.

But Pelletier earned a recall in early December, and has impressed in 23 games since his call-up, scoring 11 points and holding his own from a 5-on-5 perspective. He turns 24 in March, and will be a restricted free agent come the summer — but won’t be UFA-eligible until 2028. He’s a potential future piece for the Flyers.

As for Kuzmenko, he’s a less logical fit, other than his connection with Matvei Michkov — he’s a fellow Russian and even spent a brief period on the same team with Michkov at SKA St. Petersburg in 2021-22. Kuzmenko made the jump to the NHL in 2022-23 with the Vancouver Canucks at age 26 and excelled in his rookie season, scoring 74 points in 81 games. He appeared to be a major find for the Canucks.

But his production dipped dramatically in his second year with the club, as he struggled to gain the favor of new head coach Rick Tocchet. Ultimately, the Canucks traded Kuzmenko and his $5.5 million cap hit to Calgary in late January, as part of the deal that sent Elias Lindholm to Vancouver.

And Kuzmenko again got off to a quick start in a new locale, scoring 25 points in 29 games with the Flames. Then came the dropoff — 15 points in 37 games this season, and multiple healthy scratches. Now, he gets his second straight change of scenery.

Further analysis of the trade can be found here, for PHLY Diehard members only.