Detroit Red Wings: 3 forwards ready to breakout in 2021

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Robby Fabbri

I suspect this comes as a bit of a surprise to many of you. I’m sure you were expecting to see either Joeseph Veleno or Michael Rasmussen here. Instead, it’s forward Robby Fabbri.

The Detroit Red Wings recently wisely inked forward Fabbri to a two-year contract extension worth just a touch under $3-million per season. It’s a perfect ‘bridge’ deal for a player that’s shown flashes of being a top-six forward but may be better suited as a third-line player that may settle in around three or four-million per season throughout his career.

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This deal allows the organization two more seasons to monitor Fabbri’s progression before his contract expires.

The Wings acquired Fabbri from the St. Louis Blues early on last season after he struggled to find a stable top-nine spot with a stacked defending Stanley Cup Winning roster. Fabbri isn’t a fourth-line type player, his skill-set is one of a scoring forward, leaving him expendable in the eyes of Blues GM Doug Armstrong. Armstrong was seeking a fourth-line center that can effectively kill penalties. Yzerman flipped Jacob de La Rose, who the Wings claimed off of waivers just the year prior, practically landing Fabbri for free.

Fabbri is a 24-year old forward that’s played mostly the wing throughout his professional career. Still, Detroit experimented with him down the middle due to their lack of efficient centers on the current roster. Fabbri may have a future down the middle but will need to work on his faceoff abilities, as he was only able to win a mere 39% of his tries last season.

Like the two players mentioned above, Fabbri is a player with 25-goal potential, the difference between him and the other two is he’s proven he can produce at the NHL level. During his rookie season with the Blues, Fabbri recorded a career-high 18 goals and 37 points as a 20-year old.

Last year in Detroit, after settling in as a top-six forward, he recorded 14 goals and added 17 assists in just 52 games with the Wings.

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Here is a player that’s earned himself security over the next two seasons, in turn, warranting his first big contract. Expect Fabbri to start the new season with plenty of confidence, and hopefully, that confidence turns into a 25 goal, 50 point season. Fabbri is a strong candidate to enjoy a breakout season in 2020-21 for the Red Wings.

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