DETROIT – Robby Fabbri resurrected his career with the Detroit Red Wings following two major knee surgeries as a young forward with the St. Louis Blues.
Now Fabbri faces the same challenge again.
The Red Wings believe Fabbri tore his right anterior cruciate ligament during Thursday’s 6-5 shootout loss to Minnesota and will miss the remainder of the season.
“We’re consulting with another specialist to get a second opinion, but the expectation is that he’ll miss the remainder of the season,” coach Jeff Blashill said.
Fabbri, 26, suffered a torn left ACL midway through his second season in St. Louis in 2016-17. While preparing to come back the following season, Fabbri tore the same knee ligament and sat out the entire 2017-18 season.
“I feel horrible for him, I feel absolutely terrible for him,” Blashill said. “Not only has he had to grind through multiple ACL injuries in the past, he’s also had to grind through and done an unreal job of getting himself back to the spot where he played without any fear of injury and played with that relentless nature that he’s got to play with to be successful. For this to happen on a pretty innocent play, I feel terrible for him.
“The good thing is he knows what it takes, and he knows what it takes to come back and hopefully he comes back better than ever, stronger than ever, more determined than ever. But just from a human perspective, I feel terrible for him.”
Fabbri has 17 goals and 30 points in 56 games. He had scored a goal in three consecutive games before Thursday.
Fabbri signed a three-year, $12 million extension on Dec. 13 which starts next season.
General manager Steve Yzerman acquired Fabbri on Nov. 6, 2019, for fourth-line center Jacob de La Rose.
With Fabbri out long-term and Tyler Bertuzzi out the next three games due to his inability to travel to Canada because he is not vaccinated for COVID-19, the Red Wings will be missing a large chunk of their offense, two-thirds of what had been their second line centered by Pius Suter. Bertuzzi will join the team in Seattle at the end of the trip.
Taro Hirose was recalled from the Grand Rapids Griffins and joined the Red Wings for practice Friday. He leads the Griffins with 45 points and is tied for the lead with 14 goals in 52 games.
Blashill said he hasn’t decided if Hirose will play Saturday in Calgary (7 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit). He said young forwards like Filip Zadina, Joe Veleno and Michael Rasmussen will have an opportunity for more ice time and greater roles.
“That happened last night during the game,” Blashill said. “I think Veleno played more than he normally has, Zadina played a lot of minutes. Those are two young players that we think can bring their offense. Z made a great play on (Jordan Oesterle’s) tying goal. Ras, all those guys are going to have to bring it to another level. I thought they did last night. I thought the Veleno line, with (Jakub) Vrana and (Sam) Gagner, was really good. I thought the Ras line (with Zadina and Adam Erne) was really good.
“I think that’s going to be a critical part of us being able to absorb the loss, first of Fabbs for what looks like the remainder of the year and Bert in the interim. Hopefully those guys can step up and play great hockey and then you don’t feel the loss as much from an on-ice standpoint. The loss for Robby I feel no matter what.”
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