The Detroit Red Wings could be without Robby Fabbri for the rest of the year, as head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters Friday that the team suspects Fabbri suffered a torn ACL. While he is still undergoing further evaluation, the expectation at this point is that he will not play again this season.
In a likely related move, the Red Wings have recalled Taro Hirose from the AHL. Hirose, 25, is one of the players that will become a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer given how little opportunity he’s had at the NHL level to this point. In the minor leagues, the undrafted Michigan State star has been outstanding, with 45 points in 52 games this season.
For Fabbri, an ACL injury is the last thing anyone wants to hear. The 26-year-old forward has already undergone multiple knee surgeries in his career, which at one point threatened to derail it completely. He missed the entire 2017-18 season and played just 32 games in 2018-19, only finding his way back to top-six relevance after a trade to Detroit.
This season, he’d been one of the team’s most consistent players, with 17 goals and 30 points in 56 games. The fact that he’ll be sidelined with another knee injury is obviously going to once again cloud his future in the NHL. Luckily for him, he signed a three-year contract extension with the Red Wings in December, one that pays him an average salary of $4M through 2024-25. While he’ll hopefully be able to recover in time to start next season, ACL surgery would certainly not guarantee that outcome.
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