West Notes: Fabbro, Sutter, Canucks

The Predators are believed to have looked into the possibility of moving defenseman Dante Fabbro this summer, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.  The 25-year-old’s future with the team has seemed murky at times over the past couple of years and the fact that he took a step back last season offensively (going from 24 points to just 11) won’t help his value.  Nevertheless, Fabbro has shown himself to be capable of holding down a fourth or fifth spot on a defensive depth chart and at a $2.5MM AAV, it’s not a particularly pricey gamble for a team to bring him in.  The fact he still has another year of club control after this one doesn’t hurt either.  Clearly, Nashville didn’t find a trade offer to their liking but Fabbro could be one to keep an eye on as new GM Barry Trotz puts his stamp on this team.

More from the West:

• Last season, Jason Demers attended Edmonton’s camp on a PTO and agreed to an AHL tryout agreement after that before being converted to an NHL contract midseason. Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal wonders if the Oilers might try the same approach with Brandon Sutter.  Being out of hockey for two years altogether, going this route would allow both sides more time to assess his overall readiness to play at the top level rather than forcing Edmonton to make a decision on his fate over the next few weeks.
• While the Canucks checked in on free agent winger Phil Kessel earlier in the summer, they’re not believed to be one of the teams pursuing him at the moment, reports CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal (video link). As things stand, Vancouver is going to need to trim its payroll if Tanner Pearson is indeed cleared to play at the start of the season so getting another player at the NHL minimum salary of $775K to replace someone making a bit more than that would help in that.  However, the Canucks also have a fair bit of forward depth so it’s not entirely surprising that they’re not in on Kessel for now.