Predators Recall Spencer Stastney With Dante Fabbro Week-To-Week
The Nashville Predators have made their first move since the Trade Deadline, recalling defenseman Spencer Stastney. Stastney will fill in for Dante Fabbro, who the team shared is out for two-to-three weeks with an upper-body injury. Fabbro suffered the injury in the first period of Nashville’s Sunday night loss to the Minnesota Wild, exiting the game early.
This is the third recall of Stastney’s season, with the 24-year-old previously serving two weeks on the Predators roster in late November and one week in December. He’s totaled nine NHL games on the season, with his first career goal marking his only scoring on the year. Stastney has also managed five goals and 20 points in 44 AHL games this season. It’s his second full year as a pro, after joining the Predators at the end of the 2021-22 season. He recorded five goals and 13 points in 56 games as an AHL rookie last year, adding two assists in his first eight NHL games.
Stastney will enter the lineup as a depth option, with the team likely to ice Jérémy Lauzon ahead of him. Lauzon has appeared in 66 games this season, netting six goals and 13 points. He is one of six Predators defenders, including Fabbro and Stastney, to not yet reach the 20-point mark. Stastney could also slot in for Luke Schenn – Nashville’s least-used defenseman, with just 15 minutes of average ice time across 47 games. Schenn has six points on the season, the lowest of Nashville’s current blue-line.
Stastney’s recall will limit the Predators to just three remaining this season.
Morning Notes: Demko, Carlsson, Fabbro
The Canucks are back in the win column and continue to pace themselves for their best regular season since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2011. Their 113-point pace can be credited mainly to Thatcher Demko, who will undoubtedly get Vezina Trophy consideration in a few months thanks to an uncontestable top-five showing. Unfortunately, they’ll be without their star netminder for a slight stretch as he’s set to miss “a few games” with an undisclosed injury, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. More specifically, it’s a knee issue, per Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma. The Canucks will recall a goaltender from AHL Abbotsford, likely waiver-exempt Arturs Silovs, ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Avalanche.
After a breakout 2021-22 campaign that placed him seventh in Vezina voting, last year marked a significant downturn for Demko, who struggled through a knee injury that limited him to 32 starts and dropped his numbers to the average-to-mediocre range. He’s back to form this year, though, recording career highs in wins (34), SV% (.917), GAA (2.47), and shutouts (5). His 20.4 goals saved above expected are second in the league only behind Jets star Connor Hellebuyck‘s 27.9, per MoneyPuck. The Canucks do not have enough cap space for a recall with $125K remaining in their LTIR salary pool, but Silovs is eligible for a $0 roster emergency exemption as he carries a cap hit of $850K or less. Unlike skaters, teams do not have to play short a goaltender for one game before being eligible to use this rarer emergency recall.
More things to note as the 2023-24 campaign chugs on past the trade deadline:
- Ducks rookie center Leo Carlsson is set to return to the lineup for Thursday’s game in Minnesota, meaning he’ll miss a sixth straight game with a concussion when they take on Chicago tomorrow, GM Pat Verbeek said. Carlsson, 19, has settled nicely into NHL work after being selected second overall in the 2023 draft and is already the Ducks’ best two-way center by the numbers. His concussion, a right MCL sprain, and an early-season load-management plan have limited him to 40 games on the year and likely pushed him out of Calder Trophy consideration. Still, he’s posted decent secondary scoring numbers with nine goals and 23 assists while ranking second among qualified Ducks skaters with a 51.6 CF% and a team-high +1.7 expected rating. The Ducks, again in the draft lottery conversation with 49 points, have gone 2-3-0 without Carlsson in this latest stretch and have conceded six goals in back-to-back games.
- The Predators were on the losing end of a wild finish yesterday in Minnesota, as Wild head coach John Hynes pulled the goalie in overtime for an extra skater and took home a crucial two points thanks to a Matt Boldy game-winner. However, it wasn’t the only loss they suffered yesterday, as newly-extended defenseman Dante Fabbro sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. This is Fabbro’s first injury of the season; all his previous absences have been due to healthy scratches. The 25-year-old, who inked a one-year, $2.5MM extension on deadline day, has not yet been ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Jets. Tyson Barrie could re-enter the lineup instead of Fabbro after serving as a healthy scratch against Minnesota if the latter isn’t cleared to play.
Predators Sign Dante Fabbro, Two Others To Extensions
Predators GM Barry Trotz has announced the signings of defenseman Dante Fabbro and forward Mark Jankowski to one-year and two-year extensions, respectively (via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). Fabbro’s deal sees him earn $2.5MM next season, per a team release, and is paid entirely in base salary. Jankowski’s deal will pay him $775K in 2024-25 and $825K in 2025-26, per the team, translating to an $800K cap hit. Additionally, the team has signed undrafted free agent goaltender Gustavs Grigals to a one-year, two-way deal for the remainder of the season, worth $775K at the NHL level.
Fabbro and Jankowski will be UFAs at the end of their respective deals. Nashville was set for a potential arbitration hearing with Fabbro if he did not re-sign before the summer, while Jankowski was a pending UFA upon completion of the one-year, $775K extension he signed nearly a year ago.
The Predators drafted Fabbro, 25, with the 17th overall pick in 2016. He turned pro at the end of the 2018-19 campaign and has since appeared in 304 games for the Preds, recording 71 points and a +11 rating while averaging 18:10 per game. He’s slipped to a more limited role this year, averaging only 16:34, but he’s been effective in that sheltered even-strength role with 12 points, a +11 rating, and career-best possession numbers in 51 games.
Oddly enough, that career-best-showing hasn’t earned him the full trust of head coach Andrew Brunette. Fabbro was a healthy scratch for Nashville’s season opener and has been on 12 other occasions this season as part of a rotation with Tyson Barrie, Alexandre Carrier, Jeremy Lauzon, and Luke Schenn for depth minutes.
Jankowski, 29, has spent the last two seasons in the Predators organization. The 2012 first-round pick stayed mostly in the NHL in 2022-23, recording seven goals and 12 points in 50 games, but has spent most of this year on assignment to AHL Milwaukee. He’s been a top performer there, notching 47 points and a +29 rating in 40 games, which has earned him some more NHL ice as of late. Aside from a few paper transactions, he’s stayed on the roster since Feb. 12 and has two goals and an assist in 14 NHL contests.
A one-way deal indicates the Predators envision Jankowski on next season’s opening night roster, but if he doesn’t make the cut, he’d have to clear waivers. The Hamilton, Ontario, native has also spent time with the Flames, Penguins and Sabres over his eight-year, 336-game NHL career.
By inking Grigals to an NHL contract, the Predators add a potential Black Ace for the postseason and give themselves the option to retain his exclusive signing rights with a qualifying offer this summer. The 25-year-old Latvian has spent most of the season with their ECHL affiliate, the Atlanta Gladiators, where he has a 3.68 GAA, .898 SV%, 7-15-0 record, and one shutout in 26 games. He fared poorly in his lone AHL showing with Milwaukee on New Year’s Eve, posting a .846 SV% in a 4-3 loss to the Rockford IceHogs. He’s in his first professional season after four seasons with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and a graduate transfer season with UMass-Lowell last year.
Central Notes: Trotz, Fabbro, Vilardi
Predators GM Barry Trotz was a long-time NHL coach, spending 23 years behind the bench with a pair of Jack Adams Awards while sitting third in league history in victories. To that end, it was a bit surprising when he eschewed coaching opportunities last season and eventually replacing David Poile in the managerial role with Nashville. Don’t expect him to have another change of heart as he told Newsday’s Andrew Gross that his coaching days are over:
I can honestly say I have no intentions of coaching again. My coaching career, you can put it in an envelope.
Trotz was active this summer, hiring Andrew Brunette (a more offensive-oriented coach) to replace John Hynes, making several front-office moves, and changing things up with their forward group, parting with Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen while bringing in several veterans in free agency to change up the core. It’s fair to say he jumped in with both feet into his new role and is leaving his old one behind.
More from the Central:
- Still with the Predators, defenseman Dante Fabbro is no stranger to trade speculation as it has followed him for basically the last couple of years. Speaking with Penalty Box Radio’s Alex Daugherty (Twitter link), the blueliner expressed that his goal is to remain in Nashville for the long haul. The 25-year-old averaged a career-low 17:27 per game last season with his average through his first few games a bit below that this year as well; as a result, he’s no longer viewed around the league as a prominent part of their future back end.
- The Jets announced (Twitter link) that they’ve placed forward Gabriel Vilardi on injured reserve. The move comes as no surprise as it was revealed yesterday that he’ll miss at least the next month with a sprained MCL. While Winnipeg is eligible to place Vilardi on LTIR given how long he’ll be out for, that move doesn’t make sense for them yet as they have ample cap space to bring up someone to replace him if they so desire. That move wasn’t made prior to their game tonight but should be coming soon as they’re currently down to 12 healthy forwards.
Latest On Conor Garland Trade Market
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported today on the 32 Thoughts podcast that he believes that Luke Schenn’s injury will lower the probability that the Nashville Predators get involved in the Conor Garland sweepstakes. Friedman theorizes that the Canucks’ desired return for Garland could be defenseman Dante Fabbro, but given the injury to fellow defenseman Schenn, the Predators will likely have less of an appetite to make the move.
The Predators announced this morning that Schenn would be out 4-6 weeks with a lower body injury leaving Nashville a man short on the back end and unlikely to further deplete their defense core. The Predators have a need at forward, but given Friedman’s words, it appears that they don’t want to create a hole to fill another one.
For the Canucks, the injury could remove one potential suitor for the 27-year-old Garland from a trade market that already favors the buyer. The NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes reported today that the Canucks are willing to retain around 30% of Garland’s cap hit for the remaining two years, a step that may be necessary to move the player in a difficult trade market that has so many teams within $1MM of the salary cap ceiling.
The Canucks appear to be hopeful that they can clear some cap space with the Garland move to facilitate other transactions and give the team some much-needed salary cap flexibility. But, unless another team has an early season injury to a winger, the Canucks may need to be patient and wait until the trade deadline when teams will have more flexibility under the cap. The Canucks have been proactive in their approach and gave Garland’s agent permission to seek a trade to another, but nothing has materialized at this time.
Garland’s playing time has been down significantly to start the season as he has averaged just 11:34 of ice time through the first three games of the season, down substantially from the 15:16 of ice time he has averaged throughout his six-year career. The native of Scituate, Massachusetts, has posted 84 goals and 111 assists in 325 NHL games and has been difficult to play against throughout his career, despite being undersized.
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.
Nashville Predators Extend Dante Fabbro
While some speculated that he may have been a name traded at today’s deadline, the deadline is now passed and Nashville Predators defenseman Dante Fabbro has actually signed an extension with the team, not been traded. According to Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek, he has signed a one-year, $2.5MM extension.
Last month, we covered Fabbro’s situation with the Predators, citing reports that the team had explored the possibility of trading the defenseman, potentially to an in-conference rival such as the San Jose Sharks. The 24-year-old defender has had a difficult season, seeing his production and ice time decline from last year. Last season, the smooth-skating former Boston University Terrier scored 24 points in 66 games and averaged over 19 minutes of ice time per game. 
This season, Fabbro has managed just eight points in 56 games and has seen his average ice time drop to just 16 minutes per game, with nearly a minute and a half of that coming on the penalty kill. While some believed that a change of scenery was necessary for the 2016 first-round pick, such a change did not come before today’s trade deadline and he has instead secured a contract for next season containing a $100k raise.
This does not, of course, rule out the possibility that Fabbro will be traded in the offseason and eventually receive that change of scenery that some believe he needs. What this does mean, though, is now on a more talent-depleted Predators team Fabbro will have the opportunity to finish his season on a strong note and potentially even impress the team’s new general manager, Barry Trotz, who will take after the season.
Securing this extension might have been made especially pressing given the Predators’ acquisition of Tyson Barrie from the Edmonton Oilers, as his addition to their lineup means that now Fabbro has two players (Barrie and Alexandre Carrier) above him on the Predators’ right-shot defenseman depth chart. Especially if the Predators decide to keep Barrie beyond this season (which admittedly seems unlikely at this stage given the amount of veterans they have shipped out) Fabbro’s future in Nashville, even with this extension, could be made all the more unclear.
No matter what, though, Fabbro’s contract for next season is secured and that means he’ll be afforded the opportunity to continue his growth as an NHLer and potentially realize some of the promise that got him drafted 17th overall in 2016.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Latest On Dante Fabbro
While the Nashville Predators haven’t missed the playoffs since 2013-14 (excluding a qualifying-round loss during the 2020 bubble) this season is certainly trending in that direction.
The production of some of Nashville’s key players has regressed, leaving coach John Hynes’ squad seven points behind the Minnesota Wild for the last Wild Card spot. While the team is 6-4 in its last ten games, they just recently lost Ryan Johansen to an injury that could keep him out for a while.
This has led many to believe that the best path forward for the Predators would be to punt on this season and look to begin a rebuild. Some in-market observers view the best path for the franchise to be a pivot to fully focusing on building for the future. Given the track record of GM David Poile and the Predators as a whole, though, it does seem unlikely that a full tear-down would be considered.
Instead, the Predators may prefer to work around the margins of their roster, hoping that a resurgence from their core players and smaller-scale additions could help the team return to contention.
One of those smaller-scale moves Nashville may be considering is trading defenseman Dante Fabbro. Speaking on the Jeff Marek Show today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Predators “have explored moving” Fabbro, and specifically references the San Jose Sharks as a potential destination.
While the basement-dwelling Sharks may not seem like a natural fit to add a player, Fabbro will turn 25 in June, meaning he’s still young enough to be a legitimate consideration for the Sharks’ plans.
Moreover, acquiring Fabbro now rather than in the offseason (where he will be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent) would give the Sharks a valuable run of games of Fabbro in their lineup, so they could see how he fits in their organization and evaluate their plans for his next contract.
The smooth-skating 2016 first-round pick was a key blueliner for Sharks head coach David Quinn during his time at Boston University, and while his offensive production has cratered this season (to just eight points in 52 games) if there’s anyone that could get the best out of Fabbro, it’d be Quinn. This could be an opportunity for San Jose to buy relatively low on an asset that could grow into something more if he clicks with his new environment.
For the Predators, the rationale for trading Fabbro could center around how they view the prospect of heading to arbitration with him. Last season’s breakout defenseman Alexandre Carrier will also be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent in the summer, as will Tanner Jeannot and Cody Glass. It’s possible that the Predators simply view getting an asset in return and moving on from Fabbro as the best path forward for both the player and the team.
In any case, Fabbro will be a name to watch leading up to the March 3rd trade deadline, as a Fabbro trade could either be a relatively minor move, or even the opening salvo of a long-awaited rebuilding process in Nashville.
Pictures courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Predators Believed To Be Open To Trading A Defenseman
It has been a bit of a tough start to the season for the Predators. While they sit fourth in the Central entering today’s action, they’re among the lowest-scoring teams in the league, ranking 29th in goals scored at the moment. With that in mind, they may have to look outside the organization to try to add some scoring help. One possible option is to move a defenseman and in his latest column for the Toronto Star, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports that Nashville GM David Poile would like to move a defenseman, suggesting that Dante Fabbro could be had for the right price.
The 24-year-old locked down a regular role in 2019-20, logging over 19 minutes a game and it looked as if the Predators had found yet another quality young defender that they could mold into a core piece. However, he hasn’t really progressed much since then. His playing time continued to hover around the 19-minute mark until this season as it’s down to just 16 minutes a night while he has just four assists in 19 games.
While he’s still holding down a regular role, his usage has dipped to that of a number six defenseman which, at a $2.4MM price tag, is a bit pricey for that spot on the depth chart. Notably, Fabbro will be owed a qualifying offer this summer at that same price point while also being arbitration-eligible and if he rides out the season in the role he has now, he could very well be a non-tender candidate in the summer. Accordingly, moving him now might make sense.
Among Nashville’s other defenders, it’s safe to say that Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm, and Ryan McDonagh aren’t going anywhere. Jeremy Lauzon has three years remaining after this one on his deal at a $2MM AAV which could be intriguing to some teams if they feel he can be more than a third-pairing option while Alexandre Carrier has taken a step back this season after a breakout 30-point campaign last year. Veteran Mark Borowiecki is currently injured so he’s unlikely to move either.
That makes Fabbro the logical choice to move if Poile decides that he wants to move a defender and while his trade value has undoubtedly dipped compared to what it would have been a few years ago, it’s also possible that it drops even further if they get to the offseason with him being questionable to be given his qualifying offer. If they feel that Jordan Gross (who presently is with AHL Milwaukee but has two goals in three NHL games this season) can fill a similar role that Fabbro is now, Fabbro certainly could be an interesting addition to the trade market in the coming weeks.
Mattias Ekholm Added To COVID Protocol
When the Nashville Predators take the ice against the Boston Bruins this afternoon they will be missing another one of their cornerstone players. The team has announced that defenseman Mattias Ekholm has been placed into the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol. With forward Filip Forsberg also still on the COVID list, the Predators will be missing two impact players for the foreseeable future.
Ekholm is part of Nashville’s dominant top pair alongside Roman Josi, who each play over 23 minutes of ice time per night. While the second pair of Alexandre Carrier and Dante Fabbro have performed well this season, Ekholm’s absence will be felt, especially if he misses an extended stretch. The Predators have a busy week ahead, starting a stretch of five games in eight days on Saturday, with divisional match-ups against St. Louis and Winnipeg among them. While the Preds have the appearance of a division leader due to total points, their record is in fact fourth in the Central, sandwiched between the Blues and Jets. Ekholm’s stable play in big minutes and critical penalty kill role are not easily replaced, so the Predators will hope he can return to the lineup sooner rather than later.
Nashville did get one name back from the COVID Protocol though and that is forward Yakov Trenin. The physical winger has cleared the protocol’s requirement and is back in the lineup on Saturday. Trenin is fifth among Predators forwards with nine goals this season and in the top ten in points too, well on his way to a career year.