St. Louis Blues’ Robby Fabbri Out For Season With Torn ACL
St. Louis Blues forward Robby Fabbri’s season is over after the center suffered a torn ACL during last night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins according to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
BREAKING: #stlblues announce that Fabbri is out for the season with ACL injury.
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) February 5, 2017
Fabbri suffered the injury in the first period of the Blues’ 4-1 loss to the Penguins after he was hit into the boards by Pittsburgh’s Carter Rowney. Fabbri, shaken up on the play was unable to put weight on the injured leg and needed assistance getting to the locker room.
With Fabbri sidelined for the remainder of the season, the Blues have recalled Magnus Paajarvi and Kenny Agostino from the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League.
Agostino leads the Wolves with 60 points, while Paajarvi adds experience having spent time with the Blues throughout the past four years.
This injury comes at a bad time for St. Louis, who badly need things to move in a positive direction if they want their playoff hopes to remain alive.
The Blues recently underwent a coaching change when associate head coach Mike Yeo took over the duties from Ken Hitchcock. Hitchcock finished his Blues career with a record of 248-124-41, leading the Blues to the Western Conference finals in 2016. Yeo picked up his victory as head coach of the Blues with a 5-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Currently, the Blues sit third in the wild card standings, two points behind Calgary and three points behind Los Angeles. They’re fourth in the Central Division, three points behind Nashville, and a distant 14 points behind the second-place Chicago Blackhawks.
Robby Fabbri had 29 points thus far this season with the Blues and made an outside case for a spot on the NHL All-Star team. He ranks sixth on the team in points and is a vital part of the team’s success.
The Blues, who already lack a dominant player at the center position, lose one of the up and coming stars.
Without Fabbri in the line-up, the Blues will now have an even tougher time finding their stride on the ice during a critical time, when they need things to go the right way.
St. Louis is set to embark on a five-game road trip before coming back home on February 16 to take on the Vancouver Canucks.
With the March 1 trade deadline approaching, it would seem likely that Blues’ general manager Doug Armstrong would opt to move his star defenseman, Kevin Shattenkirk, to a contender and replenish the Blues’ roster with young talent for the future.
As of late, the Blues haven’t garnered much interest for Shattenkirk, who ranks second on the team with 35 points, but the development of youngster Colton Parayko will allow the team to move Shattenkirk and receive some value in return.
Shattenkirk becomes an unrestricted free-agent following the culmination of this season and he is said to be interested in an east coast team where he can sign a long-term deal.
Though, the Blues are still in the playoff picture and if they do sneak in via the wild card or in the division, they’re going to need their dependable defenseman to help them in the event of a playoff push.
Shattenkirk has been a central part of the Blues’ playoff success since he came over to the team from Colorado.
There are both benefits and pitfalls either way Armstrong elects to go and the loss of Fabbri from the lineup doesn’t make the decision to trade or to keep Shattenkirk any easier.
[Featured Image by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images]
