Defenseman Dante Fabbro, a long-standing Vancouver Canucks trade target, was placed on waivers by the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon. If Fabbro makes it down to the Canucks in the waiver order, Patrik Allvin and Co. must pull the trigger.
Arguably the biggest need on the Canucks right now is a right-shot defenseman capable of giving quality top-four minutes behind Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek. Carson Soucy and Derek Forbort are seasoned, big, physical left-shot defensemen, and Canucks trade acquisition Erik Brannstrom has done a nice job of filling in for Forbort in his absences this season.
The last two right defense positions are manned by Tyler Myers and a combination of Vincent Desharnais and Noah Juulsen, both of whom have struggled. If the Canucks add Fabbro, they can move Myers down a pairing and give him an even easier role than the one he has now. That would put them in a position to have great success down the line and in the postseason when the time comes.
Fabbro, 26, is still a young player and carries an inexpensive $2.5 million cap hit for one more season. The Canucks currently have $2.3 million in cap space after the Daniel Sprong trade and can create a little more by waiving Brannstrom, Desharnais, or Juulsen. They can create even more money by waiving Arshdeep Bains or Nils Aman once Dakota Joshua is ready for game action.
Fabbro has no points in six games this season and is averaging a career-low 13:06 (excluding four games in 2018-19) under Predators head coach Andrew Brunette. Fabbro averaged north of 19 minutes a night in each of his first three NHL seasons from 2019-20 to 2021-22. Fabbro averaged 17:27 in 2022-23, and since Brunette took over in 2023-24, those numbers have dropped to 16:21 and now 13:06.
It is clear that Fabbro is no longer in the plans for a Nashville Predators team that has underachieved, wallowing away in last place in the NHL with a 4-9-1 record. If the Vancouver Canucks want to buy low and upgrade their defense, they must claim Dante Fabbro. He is as cheap an upgrade as you will find at any point this season.