Less than a month ago, another NHL homecoming for Coquitlam’s Dante Fabbro seemed in peril after the Nashville Predators put the 26-year-old defenseman on waivers
On Friday, Dec. 6, Fabbro will skate into Rogers Arena for a game against the Vancouver Canucks with three goals and three assists in the 15 games he’s played since being picked up by the Columbus Blue Jackets Nov. 9.
One of Fabbro’s goals for his new team was the game-winner in a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks Sunday, Dec. 1.
Fabbro, who had seen his ice time with the Predators diminish to as few as 11 minutes a game and had been scratched from the lineup several times, is now playing as much as 25 minutes a game on the Blue Jackets’ top defensive pairing with Zach Werenski.
The win over Chicago was the fifth in the past six games for Columbus.
“You can definitely feel a bit of relief coming in the locker room,” Fabbro said on the Blue Jackets’ website recently.
“It’s a great feeling. Any time you have some belief, it can be dangerous.”
The team is also benefitting from a resurgence by another player from the Tri-Cities.
Port Moody’s Kent Johnson has scored points in his last five games since he returned to the Columbus lineup Nov. 21 from an upper body injury he suffered against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 17.
He’d also had at least a point in each of the four games he played prior to getting hurt and the team has yet to lose when he’s been on the scoreboard.
Johnson, 22, was selected fifth overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2021 NHL entry draft. He scored 16 goals and added 24 assists in his rookie season with the team but struggled early in his sophomore year, getting scratched from the lineup twice then demoted to the team’s minor league affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, for a stretch.
Johnson finished the 2023-24 season with six goals and 10 assists in 42 games after suffering an injury late in the season.
Despite Johnson’s difficulties in his second full year in the NHL, though, he signed a three-year, $5.4-million contract with Columbus on July 27.
Fabbro is playing out a one-year contract he originally signed with the Predators last March 8 that pays him $2.5 million. If he doesn’t re-sign with the Blue Jackets, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
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