Robby Fabbri Shut Down For Remainder Of Season
Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde announced on Wednesday that forward Robby Fabbri is officially out for the rest of 2022-23 due to a lower-body injury.
In addition to the announcement about Fabbri, the Red Wings also announced that forward Taro Hirose has been reassigned to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Hirose, 26, made his season debut in last night’s 7-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins, playing 7:57. He’s continued to be one of Grand Rapids’ best players this season, leading the team in scoring with 15 goals, 39 assists, and 54 points in 64 games.
Fabbri has been dealing with a lower-body injury since March 8, and Lalonde said Fabbri will require a four-to-six-week recovery period from this point forward. However, he is expected to fully recover in time for the 2023-24 NHL season.
It’s an unfortunate break for Fabbri, who’s no stranger to significant injuries. He missed the entirety of the 2017-18 season and most of the 2018-19 season with a torn ACL and upper-body injury, respectively. Fabbri also missed the end of 2021-22 with another ACL injury, and an MCL injury cost him the first few months of the 2022-23 campaign.
Fabbri, 27, still managed to produce when healthy this season, scoring seven goals and nine assists in 28 games. He was acquired by the team in a trade with the St. Louis Blues in 2019.
Minor Moves: Hirose, Ferguson, Woll
Taro Hirose has been called up as an emergency loan to the Detroit Red Wings, according to CapFriendly. Hirose will see his first NHL action of the season if he appears in a game for the Wings, but has played sparingly with Detroit for parts of the past four seasons. He has just four goals and 16 assists in 57 career NHL games, but has been over the 50-point plateau in the AHL the past two seasons, including 15 goals and 39 assists for 54 points in 64 games this season. The Red Wings host the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight.
- Also among minor league transactions, goaltender Dylan Ferguson was sent down to the AHL by the Ottawa Senators, according to CapFriendly. Ferguson signed with the Senators earlier this month, and played well in two games with Ottawa, his first NHL action since 2017-18. He registered a .940 save percentage in those two games, and has a .935 save percentage in six games with the Belleville Senators this season. He also played five games for the Toronto Marlies before signing with Ottawa, and carried an .888 save percentage in those tilts. Ferguson held down the fort for the Sens on March 20, stopping 48-of-49 shots in a 2-1 win over the Pittsburg Penguins.
- Goaltender Joseph Woll was sent to the Toronto Marlies by the Toronto Maple Leafs, according to CapFriendly. Woll has played well in a short stint for the Maple Leafs, winning three of four games played with a .934 save percentage while allowing just eight goals in that span. He last played Sunday, stopping 23-of-25 shots in a 3-2 Maple Leafs win.
Red Wings Sign Carter Mazur
The Detroit Red Wings have signed left winger Carter Mazur to an entry level contract, which will begin next season. Mazur will play with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL on an amateur tryout for the remainder of this season.
Mazur, 21, is a Michigan native who just completed his second season with the University of Denver, coming off of a productive NCAA career with 36 goals and 39 assists for 75 points in 81 games. He also notched seven points in five games for the United States at the World Junior Championships, helping the Americans to a bronze medal.
Mazur helped DU to a national championship in 2022, only adding to an impressive resume since being selected in the third round in 2021 by the Red Wings. Mazur has an opportunity to get his feet wet at the AHL level with Grand Rapids, but won’t have the benefit of a playoff run as the Griffins sit in last place with eight games remaining on the schedule.
The Red Wings have signed a handful of their drafted prospects in recent days, and Mazur adds to that list. He has been a steady point producer going back to his days in the USHL, and enters the Detroit organization at a time when many of the team’s prospects are starting to find their way in the professional ranks.
Mazur will likely spend as much time in the AHL as Detroit feels, as the team is known for taking its time with prospects just entering the Red Wings system. The Red Wings also likely won’t be shy about letting him develop as much as possible before giving him an NHL shot.
Ville Husso Could Be Done For Season
EP Rinkside’s Sean Shapiro reports Robby Fabbri is likely done for the season. The Detroit Red Wings winger has not played since March 8 when he was ruled out with a lower-body injury. It initially sounded like he could return this season, but Head Coach Derek Lalonde spoke with media today and shut down any hope of a return for the 27 year old. Fabbri had scored seven goals and 16 points in 28 games this season after missing the first three months of the season with a knee injury.
This is just the latest in a series of serious injuries for Fabbri. He missed the entire 2017-18 season, was limited to 32 games in 2018-19, 30 games in 2020-21, 56 games last season and will finish this year with just 28. A skilled forward, Fabbri could be an impact player for the Red Wings if he were able to remain healthy. Hopefully Fabbri is able to bounce back quickly from his latest setback and have a productive offseason and a strong 2023-24.
Detroit Red Wings Sign William Wallinder
The Detroit Red Wings have announced the signing of defenseman William Wallinder to a three-year entry-level contract beginning with the 2023-24 season. Financial details will be added as they become available.
Wallinder will immediately report to North America. The Red Wings also revealed that he will report to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins on an amateur tryout for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.
The 20-year-old Wallinder, born in Sweden, was the Red Wings’ second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, taken 32nd overall. He has spent the past two seasons playing for Rögle BK in the SHL, recording 45 points in 97 games.
Wallinder is a highly-touted prospect for the Red Wings and is known for his exceptional skating ability and offensive confidence. Standing at 6-foot-4 and weighing 190 pounds, he’s got a pro-ready size that could help ease his transition to North American ice.
Wallinder appeared in seven games for Sweden at the 2022 World Junior Championship, recording three assists and a +3 rating in seven games. He also recorded the most points among all junior-aged SHL players in 2021-22 and was named the Swedish Junior Hockey Player of the Year.
Robert Mastrosimone Unlikely To Sign With Detroit
Generating the production of an average forward for Boston University, forward Robert Mastrosimone turned things around upon joining the Arizona State Sun Devils. In his first career season at Arizona State, Mastrosimone scored over a point per game, putting up 42 points in 38 games. Unfortunately, for the third straight season, he was unable to help the Sun Devils reach the NCAA tournament.
Mastrosimone was drafted 54th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, hopefully, to become one of the better forwards on the next contending Red Wings’ team. However, Greg Powers, the head coach of Arizona State, relays that Mastrosimone may not be joining the Red Wings altogether.
“He’s playing the waiting game and seeing what’s going to be available as a free agent. There’s a lot of teams that are interested in him, but it doesn’t look like Detroit is going to happen. It’s just a waiting game, but he has the option to come back. It’s a good option and he’s open to it.”
If Detroit and Mastrosimone are unable to come to a contract resolution, the young prospect should nevertheless find his way onto an NHL team. Including his standalone year with Arizona State, Mastrosimone has played in 121 regular season games, scoring 32 goals and 60 assists. Mastrosimone will have one more season of eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and should he play out his final season with Arizona State, he will likely be joining a new organization around this time next year.
Injury Notes: Filip Zadina
- The Detroit Red Wings announced today that Filip Zadina is day-to-day with a lower body injury and will not be available for Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Zadina also missed over three months earlier this season with a lower body injury after blocking a shot in early November against the New York Islanders. It’s been a tough season for the former Halifax Moosehead, he has struggled to stay on the ice, and when he has played, he has been largely ineffective with just seven points in 30 games. The 23-year-old had a career year last season with 24 points in 74 games but has yet to live up to the expectations the Red Wings had for him when they took him sixth overall in 2018.
Detroit Red Wings Recall Alex Nedeljkovic
The Detroit Red Wings have brought Alex Nedeljkovic back up from the minor leagues, recalling him under emergency conditions today. Ville Husso was absent at practice, meaning Magnus Hellberg is expected to start when the Red Wings take on the St. Louis Blues this evening.
Nedeljkovic, 27, played his way out of the NHL after exploding onto the scene a few years ago, and has been starting for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL for most of this season. The former Carolina Hurricanes prospect was given a two-year, $6MM contract in 2021 after being acquired in a trade that was generally considered a steal for the Red Wings.
Giving up a third-round pick for a starting goaltender looked great initially, but Nedeljkovic would post a .901 save percentage in 59 games with the Red Wings last season, leading to the summer acquisition of Husso. This year, in nine appearances in the NHL, Nedeljkovic has an .880 save percentage.
He cleared waivers, was assigned to the minor leagues, and appears to be headed for unrestricted free agency this summer. Whatever he can do down the stretch for Detroit will only help his case in the offseason, as he looks for another chance to play regularly in the NHL.
Atlantic Notes: Savage, Brodie, Mandolese, McMann
According to Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News, Red Wings’ prospect Redmond Savage is transferring to Michigan State University. Drafted 114th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, Savage will take his talents closer to where he will eventually be playing.
Throughout his 67 regular season games played for Miami University (Ohio), Savage was able to put up 13 goals and 17 assists over his 2-year span. More famously, on the world stage, Savage was included on the roster of the United States World Junior team, playing in both tournaments this year and last. Throughout his 12 tournament games, Savage scored nine points for the United States team.
Since joining the Big Ten Conference before the 2013-14 NCAA season, the Spartans have only managed to earn a winning season one time in 2015. However, for the first time under new head coach Adam Nightingale, the Spartans won their quarterfinal matchup against Notre Dame but eventually lost to the University of Minnesota in this year’s Big Ten tournament.
Other notes:
- From Mark Masters of TSN, after sitting out of yesterday’s game against the New York Islanders, head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sheldon Keefe, says that defenseman T.J. Brodie will be back in the lineup tomorrow against the Florida Panthers. After handily losing to the Islanders on Tuesday, Brodie should be a welcomed return to the Maple Leafs against a surging Panthers team. Although his point production is down this season, Brodie has still been keen on his defensive aspects of the game, including being one of the better shot blockers in the league.
- After netminder Dylan Ferguson became ill before yesterday’s game against the Boston Bruins, the Ottawa Senators re-called Kevin Mandolese from their AHL affiliate Belleville Senators. Today, the Senators announced that they have returned Mandolese back to Belleville. With the Senators dealing with injuries between the pipes, Mandolese has started in three games this year, going 2-1-0 with a .916 SV% and a 3.29 GAA.
- Furthermore, on the Maple Leafs, David Alter of Sports Illustrated passes on a message from Keefe, announcing that forward Bobby McMann has re-aggravated a knee injury and will not play tomorrow night against the Panthers. McMann has been recalled a couple of times this year on an emergency loan, getting into ten games with the Maple Leafs, and producing one assist overall. Playing for the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate Toronto Marlies, McMann has been an incredibly valuable forward, playing in 30 games, and scoring 21 goals over that span.
Jon McDonald Expected To Join Detroit Red Wings Organization
According to a report from ESPN’s Kevin Weekes, the Detroit Red Wings are expected to sign college free agent defenseman Jon McDonald to a contract. It’s unclear at this time whether McDonald will be signing an NHL or AHL contract, and no financial details have been reported.
The move marks a return home for the 24-year-old McDonald, who was born in Livonia, Mich., and played youth hockey in Detroit. McDonald just completed his fifth season at UMass-Lowell, recording 20 points in 35 games while serving as captain during his final campaign.
McDonald is the second captain from UMass-Lowell to sign a contract today, joining now-Edmonton Oilers prospect Carl Berglund.
A left-shot defenseman, McDonald stands at 6’0″ and 181 pounds. While he never put up any notable scoring numbers in junior hockey with the USHL’s Fargo Force, McDonald’s point totals steadily increased throughout his time in college. He enters the pro ranks as a much more well-rounded player.
Weekes had reported earlier Wednesday that interest was heating up in McDonald’s services.