The beat of the drum has gotten louder and louder with each passing game. The realization that the Edmonton Oilers need to address some of their defensive issues has come further and further to the forefront of hockey minds in Alberta’s capital.
Winds of change blew through Edmonton in the summer in the wake of a Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Finals, and it’s safe to say the changes were more significant than some maybe realized. While multiple forwards were swapped in and out, so too were defencemen. Philip Broberg, Cody Ceci and Vincent Desharnais out, Troy Stecher, Travis Dermott and Ty Emberson in.
Unsurprisingly, for as much as we talked about these three being players who could help the team, the blue line was going to be a point the team needed to upgrade on at some point in the season. The idea was looking for a right-shot defenceman who could be strong in his own zone and help get the puck up the ice to the forwards — someone like Mattias Ekholm, for example.
Well, the Oilers now have an opportunity to jump the line on addressing their blue line, and instead of having to trade out any assets to do so, they could put in a waiver claim on Nashville Predators defenceman Dante Fabbro, who, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Freidman, was placed on waivers Saturday.
Fabbro is a player long targeted by pundits and arm-chair general managers, and there was even a rumour this summer the team had been entertaining a trade of prospect Max Wanner for Fabbro, but Oilersnation’s Jason Gregor had shot it down. That doesn’t take away from the fact that Fabbro has long been one of the NHL’s best transporters of the puck, excelling at doing one of the tougher things a defenceman can do in exiting the zone cleanly.
Oilersnation’s NHL_Sid highlighted Fabbro as a player the Oilers could target this summer:
Fabbro is a superb puck-mover. He remains one of the league’s most efficient defenceman at retrieving pucks in the defensive zone and exiting without turning the puck over, as his failed exit percentage ranks in the 94th percentile. Furthermore, he’s an above-average entry defender and has seen a significant improvement in that regard this past season.Fabbro’s actual goal differential remains low, but that’s primarily influenced by a 6 percent on-ice shooting percentage in 2022-23. If he played with a team with significantly better offensive talent than Nashville, like Edmonton, his goal share should be much closer to his expected goal share; this is what happened with Mattias Ekholm, who maintained superb expected numbers in both Nashville and Edmonton, but his actual goal differential substantially improved with the Oilers due to the improvement in linemate quality (99% of defencemen ultimately have minimal impact on on-ice SH%).
The 26-year-old native of Coquitlam, B.C. was drafted by the Predators 17th overall in the 2016 draft, heading to Boston University, where he excelled for the Terriers, scoring seven goals and 33 points in 38 games in his final year, all the while donning the ‘C’ on his chest. Fabbro would break into the NHL in 2019-20, and has been a mainstay on their blue line ever since, appearing in 215 games, scoring 16 goals and 72 points.
Yet, Fabbro has seemingly started to fall out of favour, playing in just six of the Predators’ 14 games, sitting the others as a healthy scratch, with his time on ice falling in each of the last three seasons, too.
He’s long provided solid value as a second-pairing defenceman, according to Hockey Viz, with his contributions in the 2023-24 season saw him provide offensive value at a league average rate and defensive value at a three percent rate above league average.
On Friday, Bob Stauffer tweeted that while there had been “a general assumption that the
Edmonton Oilers will add a right-shot shutdown D at some point,” and that they “still might,” he also noted there was an argument to be made that the team “would be better off getting another D (who can play the right side) who can transition the puck.”
Edmonton Oilers will add a right-shot shutdown D at some point,” and that they “still might,” he also noted there was an argument to be made that the team “would be better off getting another D (who can play the right side) who can transition the puck.”
The Oilers could put in a claim on Fabbro with ease, but another layer must be considered in that it would force them to dip into the LTIR Pool. They have $1,328,524 in cap space today, according to PuckPedia, not enough to fit Fabbro’s $2.5-million contract, which expires after this season as he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Edmonton would no longer be able to accrue cap space, but would still have $3.95-million in their LTIR pool to use.
The NHL’s waiver order goes in the inverse order of the standings, meaning all of the Anaheim Ducks, Montreal Canadiens, San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres could lay claim to Fabbro first. Two of those teams, however — the Flyers and Senators — don’t have the requisite cap space.
Time will tell if the Oilers make the move to claim Fabbro or not, but at the very least, he seems like the exact kind of player the team is looking for.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
