If there’s any one player that’s itching to get back out on an NHL ice surface, it’s St. Louis Blues forward Robby Fabbri.
After tearing his ACL back in February of 2017 that made him miss the final 30 games in the 2016-17 season, Fabbri missed the entire season last year after re-injuring his surgically repaired knee during the Blues' training camp.
With not a ton of leverage in nhis past summer in negotiations, the Blues re-signed the RFA to a one-year, $925,000 contract.
Speaking with Ken Campbell of The Hockey News at the BioSteel pro camp last week, Fabbri detailed his long road back in making sure his knee would be ready to go come training camp. The 22-year-old spent a good portion of his time with BioSteel’s Matt Nichol rehabbing his injury.
But one of his other methods he used for rehabbing is pretty unique. He linked up with the National Ballet of Canada, and as Nichol explains, it’s actually very beneficial.
“To me, they’re not just artists or dancers, but incredible athletes. It’s because they’re unbelievably strong, way stronger than anyone who is going to come through here. They’re spinning around in space and they have to make sure they get their equilibrium in balance and there’s a lot of research that shows that’s tied in with ACLs.”
Considering Fabbri is considered undersized is at 5’10”, using a type of dance performance like ballet can help build lower body strength, balance and can do wonders for players trying to recover from a devastating knee injury. Smaller sized players need to be strong on their skates, and with all the time Fabbri had to rehab, Nichols figured why not try something a little unorthodox?
"We went outside the box a little bit because we had lots of time. I like to believe that in a case like this, the goal should not only be just to return but to maybe be better than ever before. There might be some underlying fundamental weaknesses that guys aren’t motivated to address when they’re feeling great and playing well.”
“The way I sold it to him was, ‘We’re stuck together for the next six months and we’ve got a lot of time, so let’s try some different things. Maybe it’s going to do nothing, but maybe it’s going to be the best thing you’ve ever done.’ ”
In 123 games, Fabbri has registered 29 goals and 37 assists for 66 points in 123. The time is now for Fabbri to become a key piece in the Blues lineup in the coming months, and with the Blues adding centres Ryan O’Reilly and Tyler Bozak this past offseason, Fabbri will have every opportunity to show his offensive talents off in a top-six role.
Staying healthy, however, will be the Mississauga, Ontario, product’s biggest challenge.
“Obviously I don’t want to be known as a guy who gets hurt and is fragile,” Fabbri told Campbell. “I play a hard game and along with that comes bumps and bruises and I’ve never been one to sit out because of bumps and bruises, but an injury like this makes you pay more attention."
(h/t The Hockey News)
