from Jared Clinton of The Hockey News,
In Detroit, what Fabbri will be given is the one thing he so sorely needs to get his career back on track: an opportunity. He had proven through the early part of his career that he had a top-six skillset and, more importantly, mindset. He could think the game and see the game the way top-six talents so often do. He could make plays and find teammates and generate offense. Yet, upon his return to the lineup last season, he was relegated to minor minutes. In only eight games did he skate more than 15 minutes and he played fewer than 13 minutes in more than half of his appearances. That carried on through the post-season, where he played in 10 games and had an 8:39 average ice time, and didn’t change when the puck dropped this season....
It’s the potential he possesses, nothing more, that makes Fabbri the ideal reclamation project for the Red Wings, too. He’ll never be quite as fleet of foot as he once was, but that wasn’t the only element of Fabbri’s game. He was a major junior standout because he had a knack for offense, he the 21st overall pick in the 2014 draft because of his playmaking ability and he was a rookie standout not because he was head-and-shoulders faster than those around him, but because he gelled with likeminded players. Talented players surrounded by other talented players know how to be successful. And if there’s anyone familiar with the idea of buying low in hopes of uncovering potential, it’s Detroit GM Steve Yzerman, whose catalogue of low-risk, high-reward success stories includes Tyler Johnson, Jonathan Marchessault and Yanni Gourde. To suggest Fabbri can be another in a long line of success stories for Yzerman would be incredibly, almost laughably, premature, but that someone with his track record sees something in Fabbri is a tremendous vote of confidence.
Below, watch a small highlight package of Fabbri.
Create an Account
In order to leave a comment, please create an account.