Flyers trade Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to Flames for a package that includes Andrei Kuzmenko and picks
Danny Brière and Co. decided to shake up the mix and move on from two young players who not too long ago were viewed as key parts of the Flyers' rebuild.
Flyers general manager Danny Brière usually has a pretty good poker face, but he walked around the Wells Fargo Center press box with a grin on Thursday night.
The only problem was nobody knew why until his suite in the corner of the press box was already empty.
Just after midnight, the Flyers announced that they had acquired forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2028 seventh-round pick from the Calgary Flames for left winger Joel Farabee and center Morgan Frost.
Farabee and Frost were drafted by the Flyers, with Frost a first-rounder in 2017 (No. 27 overall) and Farabee one the following year (No. 14 overall). Both picks were acquired in the Brayden Schenn trade to the St. Louis Blues in 2017.
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But both could use a change of scenery to spark their games. Frost, 25, wraps up his Flyers career with 135 points (50 goals, 85 assists) in 278 games. He had 11 goals and 25 points in 49 games this season.
The 24-year-old Farabee has eight goals and 19 points in 50 games this season. The Central New York native collected 90 goals, 111 assists, and 201 points across 384 games with the Orange and Black, including career highs of 22 goals and 50 points last season.
Speaking of needing a change of scenery, the same could be said for Pelletier and Kuzmenko.
Pelletier, 23, was the Flames’ first-round pick in 2019 but has never found a permanent spot in their lineup. The left winger has four goals and 11 points in 23 games this season for Calgary. Pelletier has 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) and a plus-minus of plus-6 in 60 NHL games.
Standing at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, the winger is small but has good wheels, is always positive, and is a beloved teammate. He has lit up the American Hockey League, notching 130 points in 139 career games for the Flames’ AHL farm team.
He skated with Jamie Drysdale on the silver medal-winning Canadian World Junior team in 2021. That team dominated up until losing the final to Cam York, Bobby Brink, and the U.S. Pelletier was seen consoling his teammates everywhere on the ice.
Originally a member of the Vancouver Canucks, Kuzmenko was part of the Elias Lindholm deal last January. He has 135 points (65 goals, 70 assists) in 190 games with 44 points on the power play. Known for his shot, he has also struggled to find the back of the net at times but is all about the offense. Kuzmenko, who turns 29 next week, is two years removed from a 39-goal, 74-point rookie season in which he led the league by shooting 27.3%. He has just four goals and 15 points in 37 games this season and has yet to come close to matching the heights of his debut season in North America.
According to Sportsnet, Kuzmenko, who was a teammate of Matvei Michkov with SKA St. Petersburg, waived his no-trade clause to go to Philly. He has a $5.5 million cap hit but will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Pelletier and Frost are each set to be restricted free agents. Farabee is signed through 2027-28 with a cap hit of $5 million.
While the return may seem underwhelming on the surface, the Flyers clearly prioritized getting Farabee’s money off the books, and did so while adding another high draft pick and prospect in the process. The acquisition of Calgary’s second-round pick now gives the Flyers seven picks (three firsts and four seconds) in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft. The Flyers are also now better positioned to potentially make a move for a center, as they have cleared Farabee’s future money and added to their arsenal of draft picks.