St. Louis Blues Could Add Rookies Robby Fabbri, Ivan Barbashev for Playoffs

According to a Thursday report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Tom Timmermann (which is behind a subscription paywall), the St. Louis Blues intend to add their first and second-round picks from the 2014 NHL Draft, Robby Fabbri and Ivan Barbashev, to the NHL roster for the playoffs whenever the two rookies’ junior seasons end.

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Fabbri, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound, 19-year-old forward, has been playing with the Guelph Storm of the OHL. He has 25 goals and 26 assists in 30 games for Guelph this year. Barbashev, a 6-foot, 180-pound, 19-year-old forward, has been playing for the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL and has 45 goals and 50 assists in 57 games this season.

It’s unlikely that either player would force himself into the Blues’ lineup for the postseason considering that neither has ever played in a regular season NHL game. However, the call-ups would allow them to gain some key experience at the NHL level and create more of an impression on the Blues’ coaching staff and front office.

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With that said, Fabbri is pretty clearly the more likely of the two to garner consideration for playing time this season. Though he came into training camp expected to stay for just a few days, Fabbri played well enough to last until the final cutdown and seemed to be a serious candidate to make the opening roster until he suffered an injury near the end of the preseason. After suffering an injury with his junior team this season, Fabbri came to St. Louis and worked out alongside the NHL team for several weeks as he rehabbed. Coach Ken Hitchcock is clearly a fan of his play, and the general consensus is that he’ll be part of the Blues’ NHL roster next fall, so it wouldn’t be the craziest thing in the world for him to force his way into consideration, especially if the Blues continue to deal with the frequent injuries that they’ve had lately.

Fabbri’s team is currently down 1-0 in their playoff series, meaning that they could theoretically be eliminated by next Tuesday, at which point Fabbri could join the Blues. Barbashev’s team does not begin their playoff series until Friday, and they could be done by Wednesday if they are swept.

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