Blue Jackets’ Claim of Dante Fabbro Will Force Roster Decisions

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The Nashville Predators were hoping to get defenseman Dante Fabbro to the AHL. The fact that he wasn’t playing much plus his $2.5 million cap hit would likely scare many teams off from claiming him on waivers.

Sometimes, things don’t go according to plan. Thanks to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Fabbro didn’t make it to the AHL and now gets a fresh start.

On Sunday to the surprise of some, the Blue Jackets claimed Fabbro off waivers. The former first-round pick saw his playing time dwindle to the point where he became a regular healthy scratch.

With the Predators looking to shake things up, GM Barry Trotz gambled that Fabbro would clear. Thanks to a unique situation with the Blue Jackets, Trotz lost the gamble. As a result, they were able to get his full cap hit of $2.5 million off the books.

For the Blue Jackets, the claim of Fabbro is interesting on a few levels.

Blue Jackets State of Defense

Going into Tuesday night’s game against the Seattle Kraken, the Blue Jackets were losers of five games in a row. While they’re not scoring goals, they’re also allowing more goals in that streak. They’ve been outscored 24-9 in their last five games.

Seeing that Fabbro was available, the Blue Jackets decided to make a claim. He’s an experienced right-shot defenseman, something that the team was lacking.

Dante Fabbro Nashville Predators
Dante Fabbro makes his Blue Jackets’ debut Tuesday night in Seattle. (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

For most of the season, it’s been Ivan Provorov playing on the right on his offside. He’s primarily played with Zach Werenski there. Most recently, he played on the right of Jake Christiansen.

Before GM Don Waddell was hired, the Blue Jackets had more of an abundance of right-handed defensemen. Adam Boqvist and Nick Blankenburg are with new teams now.

The Blue Jackets had a need for experience on their blue line as well as balance. In Fabbro, he can help balance how the pairs look. Provorov could go back to his natural left side if the team choose this path. We’ll see how the pairs start out Tuesday.

With Fabbro being a UFA after this season, it’s a low-risk move that could have a payoff. He will have to show he can fit with the group over time while maintaining consistency in his game.

The Bigger Story

The claim of Fabbro comes with a bigger story. Since he’s making his Blue Jackets’ debut Tuesday night in Seattle, that means Jordan Harris sits.

This means the current 7th and 8th defenseman are Harris and David Jiricek. Coach Dean Evason has said that the third pair was a rotation counting Jack Johnson. While Johnson has consistently stayed in, one of Harris or Jiricek sat.

But now, but Harris and Jiricek are out together. The Blue Jackets have elected to play a recent waiver claim, albeit with more NHL experience (315 games for Fabbro, 139 for Harris and 52 for Jiricek) over their two younger defensemen.

This move alone says more than any words can say. The Blue Jackets have not been satisfied with Harris or Jiricek despite the opportunity to take the job. This is even with Erik Gudbranson out long term with injury.

The Blue Jackets were surely hoping that one of them would rise up and earn a permanent role. Given the recent ice times especially with Jiricek going from 16 minutes to under 10 minutes and now a healthy scratch, the Fabbro claim makes more sense. That turnover in Los Angeles that led to the 2-1 Kings goal looms large for Jiricek.

The Blue Jackets aren’t going to keep eight defensemen on the roster for the long haul if that means one of their top defensive prospects in Jiricek sits in the NHL. It will force the team into a decision on how to proceed.

This will be the story to watch after Tuesday night’s game in Seattle. Do the Blue Jackets keep this set of eight defensemen for now? Or will they send one of Harris or Jiricek to Cleveland?

Harris would need waivers. Jiricek would not.

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If it were up to me, despite how the past has gone, I would send Jiricek to Cleveland to play heavy minutes. On top of that, he could then play with Denton Mateychuk on the Monsters’ top pair. Jiricek has things to work out in his game before he’s ready for a more permanent role. As for Harris, he could be lost to waivers so having him in the 6-7 role fits without losing an asset.

Some preseason Blue Jackets’ predictions had the possibility of Jiricek playing with Werenski. Although he started in the top-four, he’s now down to 7-8 on the depth chart but needs to be playing games. A decision will be forthcoming on his immediate future sooner rather than later. Then how would he react to the decision?

Will this ultimately affect the longer term future between Jiricek and the Blue Jackets? Only time will tell on that front should the decision be made.