Ever since Robby Fabbri arrived in Detroit early in the 2019-20 season, it has been obvious that he is perfect fit with the Red Wings. Now the team has made sure that he won’t be playing anywhere else any time soon. The Red Wings have announced a three-year, $12MM contract extension with Fabbri, keeping the 25-year-old forward under contract through the 2024-25 season. Fabbri had been scheduled for unrestricted free agency this summer.
Since Fabbri was acquired by Detroit from the Blues (regrettably for St. Louis in exchange for Jacob de La Rose), he is third in scoring for the club. Even more impressive is that he has accomplished this despite missing 26 games last season. Overall, Fabbri has 32 goals and 63 points in 110 games with the Red Wings. Though health has been an issue for Fabbri throughout his career, when on the ice he is an effective offensive weapon and has carved out a crucial top-six role for himself on a club looking to transition from rebuild to relevance. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that Fabbri has not missed any time so far this season and Detroit has taken a major step forward, with Fabbri on pace for over 20 goals and 40 points.
Moving forward with the Wings, Fabbri will remain a part of a talented group of core forwards with room still to grow alongside Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Jakub Vrana. Detroit is projecting improvement from Fabbri with the $4MM AAV on his new deal, an improvement on his current $2.95MM, but it is easy to see Fabbri’s numbers continuing to rise if he stays healthy. Additionally, with a vast number of talented younger players either on the roster or on the way soon, this group will also be the leadership unit for the Red Wings up front, which is also contributed to the value calculation of Fabbri’s new deal. A fan favorite who plays hard and puts up points, extending Fabbri was an easy decision for GM Steve Yzerman as he continues to shape his rebuilding club for future success.
Nice signing
Good for Fabbri.
Another flawless V for Stevie Y. Nothing short of expectation
Wow. Pretty sweet deal for Fabbri. $4 million a year for a guy who hasn’t played more than 60 games in a season in five years, and never has reached 20 goals or 40 points? (We’ll see about “on pace” when he actually finishes a full season.)
Love Fabbri! But realistically, he is just a longer term placeholder for an improving team. He is a good scoring forward that would be on the 3rd line on a contender. He is not as good defensively as Yzerman would like. If he stays healthy and plays in the 30-40 point range, this contract will be extremely tradeable. Only time will tell.
I agree. Fabbri is just like Zadena, they are not finishers. They are high energy guys but cant score on a regular basis. I was looking for more goal support from these 2
Yeah, if they’d extended for $3 a season, that’d be an acceptable bet for Fabbri’s *potential*, and the fact that Detroit’s got the cap space to spare. For a genuine contender, though, this would be a big overpay.
Cap friendly deal with a shorter term contract to trade at the deadline to a contender.