Can Robby Fabbri Crack the St. Louis Blues’ Opening Roster?

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While the St. Louis Blues have been without one of their key young offensive players, Jaden Schwartz, for the duration of training camp due to a contract dispute, they’ve gotten a very pleasant surprise in the form of 2014 first-rounder Robby Fabbri.

The Blues made their first cuts of camp on Tuesday, trimming the training camp roster from 60 to 53 players. While it was a given that none of the players removed from camp were going to factor into the Blues’ plans, the cuts were notable because of the players they didn’t include: Fabbri and second-rounder Ivan Barbashev, who were the only players with junior eligibility to survive the cut.

Ultimately, it’s still extremely likely that Fabbri will return to his junior team, the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, for this season; he’d seem to be a strong candidate to be reassigned to Guelph on Sunday, when the Blues are expected to trim their roster to 30 players. With that said, head coach Ken Hitchcock and all of the media observing Fabbri early on have unanimously raved about his ability.

The 18-year-old seemed to be on a different level than all the Blues’ other long-term prospects all the way back in early July. But as Hitchcock sees it, he’s polished his game even more rapidly since he participated in the Traverse City Prospects Tournament earlier this month.

The biggest issue with Fabbri at the NHL level would be getting him consistent playing time; while he may be one of the 14 best forwards on the roster, it doesn’t make too much of a difference unless he can be one of the top 12 and get into the lineup on a consistent basis. Otherwise, it’s better to have an experienced role player like Chris Porter, Colin Fraser, or even Magnus Paajarvi who can step back onto the ice at a moment’s notice and contribute after spending an extended time out of the lineup.

The one thing that may play to Fabbri’s advantage is Schwartz’s status. If the 22-year-old Schwartz doesn’t agree to a contract before the start of the regular season, the Blues may be looking for a more fiery offensive option to replace him, rather than putting someone like Porter, Paajarvi, or Joakim Lindstrom, for example, into the lineup. Fabbri presents an unknown and may fit the bill of a top-nine player than the aforementioned players do.

If by some chance Fabbri were to make the opening 23-man roster, he would be given a 10-game trial period. After that point, the Blues would have to commit to either sending him back to juniors or keeping him on the roster for the entire season. Assuming that Schwartz is back a few games into the regular season at the latest, this rule would work to the Blues’ advantage, as they could send Fabbri back when Schwartz returned.

Once again, it’s probably a stretch to think that the 18-year-old who is currently listed at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds could make the NHL roster after participating in just a few practices and preseason games. But at the very least, he’s making a good impression which could accelerate his timeline and perhaps allow him to be called up down the stretch this season after his junior season wraps up.