NASHVILLE,
Tenn. -- Robby Fabbri was always hopeful to return when it all began
but wasn’t sure if it would happen.
But
there he was, wearing the Bluenote again after the St. Louis Blues
selected the forward with their first-round pick in the 2014 NHL
Draft.
“When
you leave, you never think you’re going to go back, right,”
Fabbri said. “But I loved my time here, a lot of memories here, so
just very excited to be back. I know my family is as well.”
The
29-year-old, who was just a baby-faced kid when he was here his first
stint that ended with a trade to the Detroit Red Wings in 2019, was
smiling from ear-to-ear in the locker room after a morning skate
Thursday prior to the Blues (11-13-7) facing the Nashville Predators
(11-14-4) at 7 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM). Fabbri will be in the
lineup, playing on a third line with Pius Suter and Dalibor Dvorsky,
with a feeling like no other.
“It’s
going to be a long time,” Fabbri said. “You get that feeling when
I’ve come back from my injuries (two major knee injuries in St.
Louis) and a lot of things like that. This last little bit
adversity-wise has been pretty up there, pretty tough compared to
some injuries and stuff like that. To get back out here and to do it
in a Blue Note again is going to be really exciting.”
Fabbri
signed a one-year, two-way contract that will pay him $775,000 NHL,
$300,000 AHL on Wednesday after playing three games with Charlotte of
the American Hockey League with
the Blues down five forwards (Jimmy Smuggerud, Jordan Kyrou, Nick
Bjugstad, Nathan Walker and Alexey Toropchenko) due to various
injuries.
“It
kind of just worked out pretty quick,” Fabbri
said.
“I was in Charlotte playing some games and some injuries were
happening over here, but they were watching some games and it kind of
just came about early in the week and we just finished it up. I’m
glad it was quick and I’m glad it was here.”
It
was a difficult summer for Fabbri, who was playing for a contract for
the first time since he was drafted. Stints with the Pittsburgh
Penguins and Florida Panthers on professional tryouts yielded no
contract.
“My
injuries have kind of prepped me for adversity like this,” Fabbri
said.
‘This is obviously a different type of adversity. Any free agent
loves to sign on July 1st and be done with it. That’s just now how
it went for me, but at the end of the day, I’ve done it my whole
career. I’ve had to come back and prove myself after every injury
and after anything that’s ever happened. I think I’m prepped to
do that. I’ve prepared to do that unintentionally my whole career.
It was a difficult summer, but I just had my second daughter (Sophia)
two weeks ago. So that distraction and my two-year-old right now
(Mara), family means the most always. I’m just thankful for my wife
and for them to be there for this.”
The
transition should be seamless, considering Fabbri was part – albeit
a smaller role at the time – of the Stanley Cup-winning Blues in
2019, and will play with teammates Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas,
Oskar Sundqvist, Colton Parayko and Jordan Binnington, as well as
coaches Steve Ott and David Alexander on that roster.
“He
knows enough guys in this room, including trainers and coaches,”
Schenn
said.
“He’s going to come here, I know he’s super excited to be here.
He always wanted to come back here and have another crack at it.
We’re excited to have him back and he’s equally, if not more
excited, to be wearing a Bluenote again.
“I
talked to him this morning on the way to the rink and it’s
seamless. You go into a new team and you don’t know anyone or not
many people here you know, but he feels right back at home again.
When you have that mentality and mindset, the adjustment period isn’t
as long and he’ll be able to hopefully come right in and make an
impact for us. Just a great guy to be around too. He brings a lot of
energy, will have a voice in the room, he’s not afraid to talk.”
Fabbri
is now obviously more mature and a wiser player than his first stint
in St. Louis.
“I’ve
obviously grown up off the ice, but I think my game’s matured, just
positionally and everything like that over the years, even with
experience, learning the right way to play,” Fabbri
said.
“I probably had a little junior still in me when I was here in St.
Louis early on. But I think my game’s matured a lot, being able to
play on both sides of the puck, penalty kill, power play, all those
types of things has evolved over the years.”
Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said on Wednesday Fabbri would be in the lineup,
and his decision to start him playing with Suter and Dvorsky was
almost a no-brainer.
“This
guy has over 100 goals, has been known as an offensive player for a
long time, so his speed, his smarts his tenacity in and around the
net, his ability to finish should complement those two guys well,”
Montgomery
said.
Fabbri,
who has 216 points (106 goals, 110 assists) in 442 NHL games, wore
No. 15 when he was first with the Blues, then No. 14 with the Red
Wings and last season when he played for the Anaheim Ducks, No. 13.
He’ll wear No. 9 this time around with the Blues.
“I
wore nine in junior,” Fabbri
said before joking, “This
is kind of just a fresh start, a new era of myself. Some guy by the
name of Steve Ott had nine when I came in my first year, so that was
kind of taken early on. I just wanted to kind of change it up and get
a fresh start over here.”
A
fresh
start and a fresh perspective.
“The
transition is kind of seamless from the staff to the players, just a
lot of familiar faces,” fabbri
said.
“It makes it easy for any player to come into a locker room. It’s
just exciting to get back to work with these guys that you won a
championship with.”
-
- -
The
Blues will be going back to some familiar faces on Thursday on their
blue line.
Montgomery
is reuniting Cam Fowler with Parayko and Philip Broberg and Justin
Faulk as the top four once again, a quartet that was instrumental in
the team’s success last season that fueled their run to the
playoffs.
“Really,
it’s just the familiarity like last year,” Montgomery
said.
“We were at our best when the pairings were like that. That’s a
little bit of it, and it feels like our D-corps got a little stale in
the last game, so just giving them a new outlook. You’ve got a
different partner, maybe you get excited again, just fresh energy.”
And
some of those things that need to look different that were detriments
on Tuesday against the Boston Bruins?
“Our
D-zone coverage, stopping in the D-zone, boxing out at the net
front,” Montgomery
said.
‘We didn’t do a good enough job last game, our habits got away
from us. And then conversely playing to the goal line and being ready
and having that mentality that, ‘we’re going to play the right
way for 60 minutes and grind out a one-goal win.’”
-
- -
Blues
Projected Lineup:
Jake
Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich
Dylan
Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Mathieu Joseph
Pius
Suter-Dalibor Dvorsky-Robby Fabbri
Hugh
McGing-Oskar Sundqvist-Aleksanteri Kaskimaki
Cam
Fowler-Colton Parayko
Philip
Broberg-Justin Faulk
Tyler
Tucker-Logan Mailloux
Jordan
Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy
scratches include Matt Luff and Matthew Kessel. Jordan Kyrou (lower
body), Jimmy Snuggerud (wrist), Alexey Toropchenko (leg burns),
Nathan Walker (upper body) and Nick Bjugstad (upper body) are all
out.
-
- -
Predators
Projected Lineup:
Steven
Stamkos-Ryan O’Reilly-Luke Evangelista
Filip
Forsberg-Fedor Svechkov-Matthew Wood
Michael
Bunting-Erik Haula-Jonathan Marchessault
Reid
Schaefer-Michael McCarron
Nicolas
Hague-Roman Josi
Brady
Skjei-Nick
Perbix
Spencer
Stastney-Nick Blankenburg
Adam
Wilsby
Juuse
Saros will
start in goal; Justus
Annunen will
be the backup.
Healthy
scratches include Tyson Jost. Ozzy
Wiesblatt (upper body), Cole Smith (lower body) and
Justin
Barron (lower body) are
out.
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