One Year Later: The Robby Fabbri Trade

By Thomas Harrington

One year ago today, the Anaheim Ducks traded goaltending prospect Gage Alexander to the Detroit Red Wings for forward Robby Fabbri and a 2025 conditional fourth round pick. Detroit had two fourth round picks, their own and Boston’s. Anaheim received Boston’s pick, which ended up being 101st overall.

The Ducks had originally drafted Alexander in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The season after he was drafted was spent in the WHL, playing for the Winnipeg Ice, where he put up solid regular season numbers with a 2.40 goals against average and a .911 save percentage, but struggled in the playoffs with a 3.65 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. The following season he started the year with the Swift Current Broncos, but turned pro partway through the season, and played in both the AHL and ECHL. He didn’t put up great numbers with either team, and his struggles continued into the 2023-2024 season. He only played in the ECHL that year and had a goals against average of 3.76 and a save percentage of .887.

Fabbri had been a member of the St. Louis Blues but was traded to Detroit during the 2019-2020 season. Overall, he played in five seasons for Detroit, with his best season coming in 2023-2024 where he scored 18 goals and 32 points in 68 games. Those 68 games were the most he played with the Red Wings and the most he’d played in any season since his rookie year in St. Louis when he skated in 72 games. Fabbri isn’t the most skilled forward. Instead, he’s made his career as a physical player, but that style of play has taken its toll on him and he’s missed significant time with injuries throughout his career.

After missing out on the big prizes in free agency, the Ducks were looking for another top nine forward and Detroit was looking to move out some salary. Anaheim also had goaltender Vyacheslav Buteyets coming over from Russia, as well as Tomas Suchanek recently signing his entry-level deal. Combined with Calle Clang, also in the AHL, there wasn’t much room for Alexander with Anaheim, so they moved on from him.

After signing Vladimir Tarasenko in free agency, the Red Wings needed to ship out a forward and salary to make room for their new acquisition. Fabbri ended up being the casualty. While he was coming off his best season in Detroit, Fabbri’s time spent on injured reserve made him an easy choice to trade.

With the Ducks, Fabbri played in 44 games and scored eight goals and 16 points. He had moments where he looked very good, and seemed to develop some chemistry with center Mason McTavish. Unfortunately, he also missed significant time with a variety of injuries. By the end of the season, rookie Sam Colangelo had taken his spot in the lineup next to McTavish.

With their fourth round pick, the Ducks chose defenseman Drew Schock. He played in the USHL this past season and will be attending the University of Michigan in the NCAA this coming season. He’s a good skater with some offensive upside.

With Detroit, Alexander only played in the ECHL, playing for both the Toledo Walleye and Reading Royals. He played in only five games for the Royals, but had a 4-1 record, a 2.81 goals against average, and 0.913 save percentage, significantly improving what he did in Tulsa. He did not receive a qualifying offer from Detroit and became an unrestricted free agent.

One year later, and neither team can look back on this trade as a real win. The Ducks used a position of surplus to try and upgrade their offense, but Fabbri was injured too often to be effective. However, the best part of this trade was the pick Anaheim got;, it essentially replaced the pick traded away the day before in the Brian Dumoulin deal. This move also helped Anaheim get above the salary cap floor. It will be a number of years before we know if Schock will make it to the NHL or not, and he’ll be one to watch in the NCAA this year. For the Red Wings, they traded away a surplus forward to add to their goaltending depth. So while neither team can call this trade a big win, each team got what they wanted out of it. And, if Schock ever turns into an NHL player, then this trade could be looked at as a win by Anaheim in the future.

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July 3rd, 2025