This past week Edmonton Oilers Twitter was set on fire when there was news regarding a potential trade in the works. That rumor that involved Nashville Predators defenceman Dante Fabbro. It’s been a topic that some were even discussing back at the deadline if they should bring him in to bolster the top four right hand side. With the lack of experience there now, that question must be answered by the deadline. The question people want to know though is if Fabbro is a good fit for Oil Country? Let’s discuss that further today.
Fabbro’s history
Over the course of his career, Fabbro has shown to be an effective option as a shutdown guy. He’s actually made strides within his defensive ability over the past few years. It’s worth noting that Fabbro is doing this mostly against second line competition which would equal a second pair Dman usage, exactly the role Edmonton needs to fill out here.
He’s shown he can be relied upon on the penalty kill, which was a duty that both Vincent Desharnais and Cody Ceci possessed. Fabbro has also shown the ability to generate offence here and then, although, he usually vastly underperforms his xG except this season which was a rare scenario.
Fabbro’s best linemates
Now, who did Fabbro play his best hockey with? In the last four years with Nashville, Fabbro spent the most time with Mattias Ekholm in 2020–21, Roman Josi in 2021–22 and 2023–24, and Jeremy Lauzon in 2022–23. The first two guys I mentioned are obvious top pairing calibre players, and the connection with Ekholm here could make him an appealing option.
In 2020–21 with Ekholm, they controlled the xG% counter by 52.1%, a 52.83 CF%, a whopping 64.71 GF%, and a HDGF% of 63.64 with a PDO of 1.037. The next year with Josi they went, 53.9 on the xG%, a 51.54 CF% rate, a 55.95 GF%, 54.03 when it comes to HDGF% and a PDO of 1.106.
The next two years with Lauzon and then Josi, Fabbro’s pairing went a 52 and a 56.3 xG%, a 47.95 and a 52.66 CF%, 47.62 and a 56.26 GF%, 44.44 and a 56.44 HDCF%, and a 0.995 and 1.021 PDO.
So what do these stats tell us? Fabbro has a strong history of not only out-possessing his opponents, but does a fine job at disallowing his opposition to create opportunities and score. Fabbro actually does BETTER when he plays MORE minutes and against elite competition, something Ceci struggled at.
Does he fit in the Oilers lineup?
Fabbro is used up and down the line up in Nashville. Whether playing with a third pair defenceman in Lauzon, the slick viking stud on the second pair in Ekholm, or forming a dominant two way pair with elite D Josi, Fabbro has shown he can excel at any position, and probably wont break the bank contract or trade wise. In MoneyBall terms, he’s an under-appreciated asset and could excel here in Edmonton.
The Predators have Josi, Lauzon, Brady Skjei, Alexandre Carrier, Luke Schenn, and Spencer Stastney all locked up beyond this season. The Oilers would look pretty nice with a top six D of Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, Fabbro, Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson come playoff time. As for a trade price, if that rumored is Max Wanner, a second and a third for Fabbro and Philip Tomasino (another young Predator player that would boost the depth scoring) was true, you do it 10 times out of 10.
References from Moneypuck, NST, Evolving Hockey, and JFresh
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