The Blue Jackets have placed an important piece in their summer roster puzzle.
Dante Fabbro, who skates with Zach Werenski on the top defense pairing, has agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $16.5 million and costs an average annual amount of $4.125 million toward the NHL’s salary cap.
“Dante was a great addition to our team last season and keeping him in Columbus was a priority,” Blue Jackets president of hockey operations/general manager Don Waddell said in a statement. “He is a smart, versatile defenseman who moves the puck very well and can play in all situations. We are thrilled that he will continue to be an important part of our club moving forward.”
Waddell claimed Fabbro, 27, off waivers on Nov. 20, 2024, from the Nashville Predators.
After falling out of favor in Nashville, where he spent his first five NHL seasons, Fabbro barely played for the Predators before they placed him on waivers. Waddell, seeking to bolster the Jackets’ defensive group with a right-handed defenseman selected 17th overall in 2016, scooped Fabbro up and gave him a change of scenery that sparked a return to top form.
Leaning on experience gained from playing top minutes in Nashville with Roman Josi, Fabbro stepped right into the Blue Jackets’ first pairing and melded seamlessly with Werenski, forming a strong left-right combination. Werenski was already cruising in a career-best season, but adding Fabbro gave him a regular partner to free him up even more. That was something he hadn’t had since the Blue Jackets traded former partner Seth Jones in July 2021.
“Being familiar with a partner is huge,” Werenski said. “I don’t want to say it’s half the game, but it’s a big part of the game — just not having to think in certain situations. You do enough thinking on the ice off your instincts. You have enough reads to make as a defenseman, where, if you can eliminate some of those just by knowing what your partner’s going to do, it just frees the game up in certain areas. It gives you more time, allows you to just play off instincts more, and I feel like I haven’t had that since Jonesy.”
Now that can continue.
“I really liked playing with Fabbs and having that consistency, and I think it helps having a righty over there too,” Werenski said. “You can play with a lefty (on the right), but things are a little bit slower … offensive zone ‘D-to-Ds’ (defenseman-to-defenseman passes) are slower, neutral zone ‘D-to-Ds’ are slower, and I’m a guy that likes to have the puck on my stick and make plays. He does a good job of just zipping it over, and it’s quicker. We work really well together, and he’s a great dude too.”
Fabbro also balanced the Blue Jackets’ top two defensive pairings, allowing coach Dean Evason and assistant Steve McCarthy to bolster the second unit with Ivan Provorov — another solid two-way veteran with size and strength. Provorov, like Fabbro prior to his extension, is a pending unrestricted free agent whom Waddell went into the offseason hoping to retain.
That’s started to look less likely going into the draft June 27-28, but Waddell wasn’t able to add a right-handed replacement for Provorov using the Blue Jackets’ two first-round picks. They’ve got until Noon on July 1 to get Provorov re-signed before he can test the open market. Signing Fabbro, meanwhile, helps maintain some consistency at a critical position for a team that made an unexpected push up the Eastern Conference standings to finish two points shy of the playoffs.
Fabbro played a key role.
While helping free up Werenski’s offensive side, Fabbro put up impressive numbers of his own. After playing six games with no points and a –3 plus/minus for the Predators, he finished with nine goals, 17 assists and 26 points over 62 games with the Blue Jackets.
For the season, including his stint with Nashville, Fabbro set career-highs in goals, points, plus/minus (+20) and ice time at 20:54 per game that included 21:39 per game for the Jackets. Now that he’s signed, Waddell can focus on re-signing other “priority” players among a long list of pending free agents that includes eight additional UFAs and restricted free agent forward Dmitri Voronkov.
The NHL’s window for free agency opens at Noon on July 1, which gives the Blue Jackets a deadline to reach deals with any of their unsigned UFAs. The Jackets retain signing rights for Voronkov, Mikael Pyyhtia and other unsigned RFAs who played primarily at the AHL level.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
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