The Blue Jackets didn’t think of Dante Fabbro as a third-pairing defenseman when they re-signed him June 29, giving him a four-year contract worth $16.5 million, but that’s where he’s skating.
Six games into the season, rather than keeping Fabbro with Zach Werenski on the Jackets’ top pairing, he’s played the past two games with Jake Christiansen. And Fabbro will remain part of the third pairing Oct. 24 against the Washington Capitals, although he will take his right-handed shot to the left side with the pending return of fellow righty Erik Gudbranson from an upper-body injury.
Denton Mateychuk, meanwhile, is skating with Werenski in his first full NHL season, and he’s got the added challenge of patrolling the right side as a lefty. That isn’t how things were supposed to look for the Blue Jackets on the back end, but a 3-3-0 start and wins in their past two games will likely keep it that way until coach Dean Evason and his staff sense a need to change it.
How did all this happen so quickly?
Look no further than the Blue Jackets’ 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 16 at Nationwide Arena, where a recent Stanley Cup winner and perennial Cup contender made the upstart Blue Jackets look timid.
The Avalanche used relentless pressure to force turnovers, controlled the puck, and won a lion’s share of battles along the boards. Fabbro wasn’t the only guy who lost too many battles, but he was moved off the top pairing after that game.
“I think it’s just being a little harder in battles, so a big emphasis for myself the last week and a half has been in practice and being harder in battles,” Fabbro said. “I’ve been trying to get myself better prepared for the last two games, and it’s been better as of late.”
Statistically, nothing about Fabbro’s first six games is a flashing red warning light.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Fabbro has skated 95:07 at even strength and the Blue Jackets have generated more attempts (110-105), four fewer shots (45-49), one more goal (3-2), three fewer scoring chances (46-49), four fewer high-danger chances (19-23) and two more high-danger goals (2-0).
Mateychuk has skated 94:37 and the Blue Jackets have garnered six fewer attempts (88-94), an equal number of shots (43-43), one more goal (3-2), two fewer scoring chances (36-38), seven fewer high-danger chances (14-21), and an equal number of high-danger goals (1-1).
Mateychuk also scored one of those goals in the third period of a 5-1 victory Oct. 21 in Dallas to give the Blue Jackets a two-goal cushion and some needed breathing room. Fabbro finished with one shot and three attempts while skating 18:18 in that game, including 2:39 helping the Jackets go 2 for 2 killing penalties.
“I’d like to be hitting the ground running, but sometimes you’ve just got to work on some things to get the feel back out there,” he said. “I’ve been talking to the coaches, and they’ve been really transparent. It’s been great. … At the same time, Dents has played unbelievable and deserves more ice time with the way he’s playing. What I can do is push him to be better, and he can push me.”
Moving to the left as a righty might not help, forcing Fabbro to make critical plays on his backhand, but he’s not complaining about that or his role. A long season has just started, and there’s plenty of time for him and others to earn bigger roles.
“I’d like to snap my fingers for it to be that way, right away, but there’s a lot of work and preparation that comes with that,” Fabbro said. “Not that I wasn’t doing that this summer. It’s just for some reason I wasn’t feeling it a little bit, but I’m working on it with the coaches, and it’s getting there.”
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social