VOORHEES, N.J. — Joel Farabee is not even a year and a half older than the 22-year-old Bobby Brink.
Farabee is only 23 years old but was praised by general manager Danny Briere in September for taking "a big step leadership-wise this summer."
One of the young players Farabee helped look after was Brink. Now, they're playing on the same line and have celebrated goals together in two of the Flyers' last three games.
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"He has played a lot of games in the league," Brink said Thursday after morning skate. "I'm a younger guy, but I knew him a bit before just from playing with him a little bit, we're similar in age. He has been really good to the young guys. He's a good guy to just try to emulate a little bit."
Brink went from a dark-horse candidate to make the Flyers' roster at the start of training camp to playing like a guy John Tortorella can't take out of the lineup. The 5-foot-8 winger has played in five of the Flyers' first six games and is fourth among the team's forwards in ice time with 15:58 minutes per game. He has two assists and a plus-4 rating.
Both of Brink's assists have been on two of Farabee's three goals. Playing 15:04 minutes per game, Farabee has four points and a plus-4 mark. Noah Cates, a 24-year-old who centers the two wingers, had three points (one goal, two assists) on the Flyers' 0-1-1 road trip against a pair of Stanley Cup contenders.
Tortorella said the group of Farabee, Cates and Brink has probably been the Flyers' best offensive line.
During the preseason, Farabee mentioned having an extra step after a good summer of training. His previous offseason was thrown out of whack after he unexpectedly had to undergo disc replacement surgery in his cervical region. He was able to recover in time to play all 82 games last season but wasn't the same player.
"I just look at Beezer's concentration, he's [line] changing on time, things people don't notice in games but I watch it," Tortorella said Thursday morning before his team's game against the Wild (7:30 p.m. ET/ESPN+, Hulu). "He is a concentrated athlete, comes in much better shape, had a much better opportunity to be in better shape, more weight. Quite honestly, I think I need to find him more ice time."
While Farabee isn't much older than Brink and the Flyers' other young pieces, his NHL experience is much deeper. He has played in 258 career games, he was on the Flyers' last playoff team (2019-20) and he's in the second year of a six-year, $30 million contract.
This offseason, Farabee had prospects Tyson Foerster and Egor Zamula live with him in Philadelphia for part of the summer as they trained at the team's practice facility.
"He always had the young guys over," Brink said. "Whenever guys wanted to go hang out downtown, we always went to his place."
Farabee had teammates look out for him when he was a 19-year-old rookie.
"Since the first day I ever got to Philly, I think the older guys always treated me great," he said in September. "My first year here, having Kevin [Hayes], Scott Laughton, Michael Raffl, really taking me under their wing. Letting me stay with them when I needed it, dinners, you kind of name it.
"I felt like when I was a young guy, guys did that for me and it just makes you feel a lot more comfortable around the rink, it just brings everyone together."
Right now, Brink is living in a hotel. His spot with the Flyers isn't exactly permanent this season. He has 15 career NHL games under his belt and the Flyers will keep a close eye on him and the other prospects as the NHL grind picks up.
"Just try to take care of the body, take advantage of the off days," Brink said. "In the AHL, you still play a lot of games, a lot of back-to-backs, so I'm used to playing some of those. But it's definitely a different animal in the NHL."
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