St. Louis Blues Prospect Robby Fabbri Faces Tough Odds

The St. Louis Blues three-day Prospect Camp held earlier in the week was a smash among attendees, and for our own Vanessa Graf, who attended the camp to get a little insider information on those who could break into the Blues bench come next season.

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Fabbri was only recently returned to training after recuperating from a knee injury at the 2015 World Junior Championships in January. However his speed, agility and on-ice prowess didn’t suffer one whit for it, reports say.

While Robby Fabbri was overwhelmingly considered the most NHL-ready prospect by fans and media alike, scoring regularly and making strong plays, he faces an uphill battle when it comes to landing ten or more games on St. Louis Blues ice in the 2015-2016 season.

Fabbri stands at 5’10”, 170 lbs, according to NHL.com, which is known to over-emphasize height and weight when it comes to smaller players. With those stats, and with his particular play, Fabbri will need to crack the top six as he won’t fit on a third or fourth line which boasts more physical play, particularly on the Blues.

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And this is where he runs into trouble.

The St. Louis Blues are stacked on offense, boasting two strong top lines. In order to get a shot at a top-six spot, Fabbri will either have to hope to take over former Blue T.J. Oshie’s spot at wing alongside David Backes on the top line (unlikely for an untested rookie) or for a complete re-juggling of lines leading to some unexpected chemistry between himself and a player the Blues don’t want to make unhappy, such as Tarasenko.

The complications come from Fabbri’s natural position at center. Backes has played left wing in a pinch for Hitchcock, but his role on the team as the heavy-hitting net crasher means Fabbri may end up making the same transition Oshie did when he hit the NHL from center to wing.

As it stands, the top lines look as such:

Steen – Backes – X (Formerly Oshie)

Schwartz – Lehtera – Tarasenko

Blues GM Doug Armstrong signed Lehtera to a three-year contract extension in July, taking effect for the 2016-2017 season. This was presumably attempt to sweeten the pot for Tarasenko and make it easier for him to sign with St. Louis, but it didn’t hurt St. Louis to retain a top-six center for the not-so-immediate future. The chemistry between Lehtera and Tarasenko was excellent over the 2014-215 season, not least due to their shared history on Sibir Novosibirsk of the KHL, where they played together for two seasons. That leaves Schwartz as the position Fabbri would need to aim for on the second line.

Further complicating the issue is Paul Stastny, who generally manned the 3C position this season. Stastny made no secret of the fact that he wanted a shot at the 1 or 2C positions, and spoke with Hitchcock before leaving about what he would have to do to achieve that.

While Fabbri may have been acquired for his feet, quick shot and his lack of fear when it comes to physical play, he’ll likely have to adopt his play to wing if he wants to crack the roster for the 2015-2016 season.

Next: Chris Pronger Left It All On The Ice

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